Being "in the will of God"

The notion of whether we are "in" or "out of" God's will is binding, harmful, and destructive. It produces guilt, shame, fear, and anxiety.

On maybe the most important level, God's will for us is clear and simple. We are to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. In fact, we are told this is the ¹greatest expression of what He wants (wills) us to do ...  yet who among us does this perfectly? Not me!

If we don't, does that mean we are now "out of God's will" and forever off-track to fulfilling “our destiny" or "God's will" for our lives? If so, then we are all out of God's will in this way, for no one loves God and neighbor perfectly, even the most mature among us. 

Typically, when someone says they are anxious about "missing God's will," or wish to be sure of what His will is, they are referring to "vocational" type decisions - sometimes referred to as ¹God's "secret" or providential will - e.g. whether to marry this person or not, to take this or that job, buy this or that house, move to this or that location, etc.

However, these are more our concern than God's. It's not that we shouldn't consider these things or that God doesn't care about whether they are important or not. They are! But God says ²whatever we do, do it for his glory. In God's economy, why we do things - for or not for His glory - is stressed far more and is more important than what we do - i.e. do we act for God's glory or our own? 

 

This is the most important question. There is no uncertainty on whether doing something for God's honor is His will. It always is. The challenge is knowing our hearts well enough to know if we are pursuing or building his kingdom - living for His glory - instead of our own. This is by far the more challenging and important question.

What we should do is determined more by our skills, gifts, resources, and circumstances, etc. 

Why we do it is determined by our hearts.

It's not that God doesn't care about the “what” decisions or that we shouldn't pray about them, but only after we assess if we are doing them for his honor or not i.e. out of trust in Him and love for Him. Then we can better assess if, when, and how our choice fits our resources, skills, and circumstances. 

Using all God has given us in the way He intends and designs for us individually is part of doing things for his glory and is the heart of walking in His will.

The biggest reason we are so concerned about "vocational" type decisions is often because we do not wish to be responsible for a decision if the outcome is not favorable (e.g. "it's not my fault things didn't work out, it's God's. I was just following 'His will' ") when in fact these type of decisions are exactly the ones God calls us to make and be responsible for.

The following passage may be appropriate in this regard. 

"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways." -1 Corinthians 13:11 

Becoming wiser in our choices is part of the growing-up/maturing process. He works with us accordingly. When we are young in our walk with God, He works differently. As we grow in our faith we are to walk more in His wisdom not by some "sense" of God's will - which may have more to do with our present state of mind (which can change day to day) than inspired by the Spirit of God.

The reality is, no matter what our choice, God is always ultimately going to use it for our good (though not necessarily for our comfort or ease). So we should always move forward in hope, not fear, when we are seeking to honor God, regardless of what direction we choose or what the outcome is.

Someone once said it is not what I don't know about God's will that is most challenging but what I do know. 

How well do we love God with all our hearts? Christ said if we love him we will keep his commandments. This is pleasing and honoring to God. This is clearly His will and should be our primary focus and concern, not if I am taking the right job or getting the right place to live. Those type questions are answered more by our gifts and circumstances, not some special revelation or "sense" from God.

Regarding God's will, we are told the following...

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." - Rom 12.1-2

This passage tells us discerning the unknown (secret or vocational) will of God (i.e. decisions like which job or what place to live) is contingent on living out the known will of God i.e. If we wish to discern what God’s good, acceptable, and perfect will is for us, we must present our self in sacrificial obedience to God and align our thinking and will with His and His direction i.e. the first and greatest command on which all other commands rely. As we do, we can be assured he will reveal to us what we most need to see or do in our obedience. As the analogy goes, God can't steer an anchored ship, but only one that's got its sails up and moved along by the wind. 

We are to leave the guidance to God as we focus on our part of being faithful to Him i.e. loving him with all that we are and have and our neighbor as ourselves i.e. being that living sacrifice He calls us to be.

Another guiding principle we often hear that runs parallel with the greatest commandment is given in Proverbs 3:5-6.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

What both the greatest commandments and this passage have in common is God's guidance (the "straightness" of our path) occurs in our moving forward out of love for and trust in God, not normally by some mysterious sign or signal from Him. Though He may certainly provide guidance in this way occasionally, it appears to be secondary and contingent on our faithfully pursuing Him out of love and trust first. Our focus should be on faithfulness not on a sign or signal to "confirm God's will." God's will is already laid out as mentioned above. We may be perfectly in line with God's will without ever receiving a particular sign to continue on any particular course outside of what is already clearly given in God's written words to us in scripture.

• For further discussion click here
• For a discussion on the value and importance of following God's known will click here. 
• For a discussion on being led by the Spirit click here. 
• For a discussion on doing all things for the glory of God click here. 
• For a discussion of how God is sovereign over all things both good and evil, click here. 
• For a discussion on how God works with the "real you" click here.

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¹this is sometimes referred to as the "revealed will" of God whereas vocational-type decisions are referred to as the "secret or hidden" will of God.

²One thing we can be sure of, whatever choices we make, God will use them to draw us closer to Himself, conform us to the image of His Son, and teach us to love Him more so we might bring greater glory to him. This is the good God is bringing about through "all things" of life.  

Also, loving God with all our hearts and doing all things for his glory are not two distinct expressions of pursuing God's will but are tied together i.e. I should do all things for his glory because I love and value God above everything else. And because I love and value him above all things, I seek to do everything for His honor.