People, and especially young people, are faced with all sorts of questions in life. What school should I go to? What kind of career should I choose? Who should I marry? Which church should I join, and which ministries should I serve in? And beneath all of these questions is one even more foundational: How can I know God’s will for my life?
There are some people who think God’s will is something hidden that must be found. You hear these people say, “Well, I’m searching for God’s will,” as if God is a cosmic Easter Bunny making a game of hiding His will and having us search for it.
There are other people who think finding God’s will is some kind of dramatic, supernatural event. They think they’ll slip on a banana peel one day and their nose will land on a map of Africa, and it will be a sign to go to Africa. Or they think they’ll hear a voice out of heaven in the middle of the night, saying, “Go to India.” And they keep waiting for that voice, and the voice never comes.
There are also people who think that the will of God is something to be afraid of. I’ve had young people say to me, “I’m not asking God for His will because I’m not sure I want it.” One time an athlete at Hume Lake Christian camp said to me, “I’ll be honest with you. I want to know God’s will for my life, but I’m afraid of the answer. I’m an athlete and I love athletics, and my big fear is that God is going to break both my legs and make me play a flute instead.” He was worried that God is a cosmic killjoy who goes around ruining people’s fun by making them spend their lives on things they don’t enjoy.
There are still other people who assume that God’s will is like the brass ring on a merry-go-round. You grab and grab for it, and if you’re really lucky, you might get it and win the prize. But most people will never get it, and they’ll have to settle for something less. Only the special few who serve as overseas missionaries or successful evangelists are in God’s will, and everyone else is left milling around in the shallows of life. So go the theories about God’s will.
Over the next several posts, I want to present a true, biblical picture of God’s will. But I want to begin by establishing three assumptions.
God has a will for your life. He is not nebulous, vague, undecided, or lacking an opinion with regard to you. He has a specific purpose in mind for your life.
God wants you to know what His will for your life is. Why would God have a will for your life and frustrate Himself by not wanting you to know what it is?
God has put His will in a place where you can find it. If He has a will for you and He wants you to know it, then it stands to reason that He would make it obvious and accessible to you.
The most obvious place to find God’s will is in Scripture. And next time, I will show you the single most important thing Scripture says about God’s will for your life.
This post is based on a sermon by Dr. MacArthur. In addition to serving as the pastor of Grace Community Church and the voice of Grace to You, Dr. MacArthur is the chancellor of The Master’s University in Santa Clarita, Calif. You can learn more about TMU at masters.edu.
