“Finding” God’s Will

Wouldn't it be nice if God guided our lives similar to a GPS in a car?

At spiritual conferences, one of the most popular workshop topics is “How to Know God’s Will.” (That is, unless you don’t believe in God, in which case, who cares?) But for those of us that do believe, wouldn’t it be great to know, without a doubt, what God’s will is – whether for your career, marriage, family, maybe even which flat-screen TV to buy?

I’ve often heard people talk about “finding” God’s will, as if it’s some kind of treasure hunt, or a search for a divine needle in a haystack. Frankly, that approach is a bit too mysterious for me. “Is it really God’s will, or just the jalapenos I had on my nachos last night?”

Dozens, if not hundreds, of books have been written on this subject. And I’m not going to attempt giving a definitive answer in several hundred words. But there’s an aspect to following God’s will that’s similar to following the GPS in your car.

I remember the first time I drove a vehicle with a global positioning system, a rented car in Houston, Texas. I entered my destination, drove off, and when I failed to heed the spoken instructions and missed a turn, a feminine-sounding voice calmly announced, “Recalculating.” (Which I’ve since learned means, “You idiot! Pay attention. Now I have to revise the directions I gave you. I’ll get back to you in a few seconds.”)

As we journey through life, we usually feel we’re on the right course and right on time…until we realize we’re not. We might have missed a turn, or taken an exit we shouldn’t have. Most of the time these aren’t fatal errors – at least if we’re willing to take note when God offers a course correction, using “God’s positioning system.”

Unfortunately for those of us who are particularly dense when it comes to advice and reproof, He doesn’t usually speak in an audible voice. Instead, He speaks through the Bible, through fellow believers we trust – and through circumstances. There have been times in my life when I felt so low there was no place to look but up. That’s when I’ve heard the Lord most clearly.

Such moments have taught me the truth of Proverbs 16:9 – “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”

So whenever we sense we’ve strayed off course, that we’ve remained on the main road when it was time to exit, or we’ve taken an exit and realized too late we shouldn’t have, we can almost hear God saying, “Recalculating.”

He’s also prompting us to apply another of my favorite biblical promises: “Trust in the Lord will all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).