I took this class last night on “Decision Making and the Will of God.”  I walked away with some powerful things – some the teacher taught, and others the Lord taught me 1:1.  One thing is clear, the Bible tells us to know the will of God, and that if we do not, we are foolish.  Wow!  So we pray for it, and we ask God for it.

I realized something really powerful last night.  I want a blueprint for my life.  Should I pursue this PhD?  Should I take this job?  Should I move my family?  Yet, God won’t give me a blueprint.  Why?  Some of you might not like the answer.

Proverbs 25:2 tells us “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.”

So I am seeking things, and God is hiding them!  What is up with that??  And there is even more than that…

Deuteronomy 29:29 goes on to tell us  “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

There are only certain things God reveals to us.  And there is a reason why.  Sometimes we want to use logic.  We think that is the highest form of thinking.  Yet, God tells us:

Isaiah 55: 8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.”

God has an entirely different way of thinking.  He also has an entirely different agenda.  We want answers.  He wants a relationship.  That is why He made us – to have a relationship with us.  Last night a woman asked “Can we know the will of God?”  Right when she asked that, two passages came to my mind:

Romans 1:17, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

How do the righteous live?  Not by a blueprint.  God is much more interesting than that.

Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

This walk of faith will only take us deeper into His love.  And then there is this gem from King David himself:

Psalm 119:105,  “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Your Word Is A...Light for My Path

The Bible is God’s headlights that we are to use as we travel this dark, late night road called life.  So, if I stay in His Word, seek Him, and do not rely upon myself, I will do well?  What does that mean to “do well”?  Become a millionaire?  Was Jesus a millionaire?  Any of the disciples?  Does it mean that I will finish this or accomplish that?   If I do not finish my PhD, does that mean I was not listening to God?  Or does that mean that God wanted me to take those courses, or meet those people, or undergo those experiences so I would learn the things I would need along the way He has for me?

It is interesting in the parable that Jesus told in Matthew 25 about the servants to whom Jesus gave money.  Have you ever noticed how He responded to the various servants?  Take a look with me:

Matthew 25:20-23, “And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

Whether they grew much or little, the Master was pleased.  To the one who grew NONE – well, that is another story for another day!

Abraham went all the way up a mountain with a 12-year-old son that he thought he was going to sacrifice.  He took along a bunch of things as well, only to get there and find out that God was merely testing his obedience.  He had no intention of  wanting Abraham to finish this task that HE told Abraham initially to start out on.  Was the journey for naught?  No – there were things Abraham would learn and undergo in the journey to build up his “faith toolbox.” – you know, the wisdom, and the evidences we pick up along the way to prove that God really is good, and loving, and kind, will meet our every need, and everything else God is.  It helps build our relationship with our God.

So, it is a chord of many strands, the wisdom God has given us, God’s revelation, Me, and God Himself – all intertwined in this faith walk that, ultimately, will result in the joy we all seek that money can’t buy,  achievement can’t earn, influence can’t persuade, and power can’t control.

Decisions Decisions!