How to Know God’s Will
Trusting God while taking action
Have you ever wished God would just send you a detailed itinerary for your life? A five-year plan. A highlighted map. Maybe even a neon sign in the sky pointing you in the “right” direction?
As we continue our practical How to Handle Life series, Shay tackles one of the most common questions Christians ask: How do I know God’s will for my life? Modern life bombards us with endless choices (career, marriage, major life moves), often leaving us fearful we will miss God’s “perfect” path. But over-analyzing every detail and possible option can keep us paralyzed with anxiety or regret.
Drawing from insights in the book Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung, Shay will walk you through three biblical categories of God’s will and then get practical about two of the biggest decisions you might face: what career path to follow and who to marry.
As you listen or read, you’ll feel less pressure to decode a hidden blueprint and more confidence to faithfully follow Jesus right where you are.
Highlights from this Episode
Today we’re going to be talking about the age-old question, “How can I know God’s will for my life?” This subject can be complicated when we look at the different parts of it, but it can also be simple if we keep the big picture in view. I’m not going to be able to cover every part of this topic today but hopefully give you a good overview and some guidelines you can use going forward.
When I was on staff with Campus Crusade, there was an evangelistic tool that we used called the Four Spiritual Laws. We would share that with people, and the very first spiritual law was, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” It’s easy to wonder, if God has such a wonderful plan for my life, then why doesn’t he just tell me exactly what it is?
For example, if you’re a college student, what should your major be, or what kind of career do you want? Regarding relationships, should you get married, and if so to whom, and how many kids should you have? What job offer should you take? Should you stay in your current job, take a different job, or retire?
I’d like us to consider that maybe we have difficulty discovering God’s wonderful plan for our lives because he doesn’t intend to tell us exactly how to make all of our decisions. In other words, he’s not going to write in the sky for us or speak audibly to us. Maybe we’re even wrong to expect him to.
I’m going to give you three ways that you can think about God’s will and then talk about a couple of big decisions that most of us face in life. I’ve gleaned a lot of these thoughts from a pastor named Kevin DeYoung who wrote a book called Just Do Something.
3 Ways to Think About God’s Will
1. God’s will of decree. This refers to what God has ordained. In one sense, everything that comes to pass is according to God’s sovereign decree. And all that he decrees will ultimately come to pass. God’s will of decree cannot be thwarted. It is immutable and fixed. His will is sovereign over everything and everyone. That means nature and nations, animals and angels, spirits and Satan, good people and wicked people, and even disease and death.
This principle is stating that God’s will is what happens and what happens is according to God’s will. This is seen in many passages of Scripture. Romans 8:28 is a familiar example: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 10: 29-30: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But he says, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered.”
God doesn’t just plan out a few of the big decisions for your life. He knows the smallest sparrow and the grayest hair, and neither falls to the ground unless your heavenly father wills it. Your life unfolds according to his providence. And because of that, you can trust that he’s in control and has a purpose for all things. That’s a very comforting truth.
James says, “Listen up all who say today or tomorrow, we will go to this city or that city and do business.” We’d call that ‘making plans’. But James goes on to say, “You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Instead, we should say, if it’s the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” The point isn’t that we always need to say, “…if it’s God’s will”, although that doesn’t hurt! It’s that we need to always remember that God is sovereign and nothing will happen outside of his will.
Even when it came to the death of Jesus, the Bible says that he was put to death by evil, lawless men, doing what they wanted to do, but also doing what God had planned and ordained all along to bring about the salvation of his people.
2. God’s will of desire. This refers to what God desires from us. If the will of decree is how things are, the will of desire is how things ought to be. Both of these are in Scripture.
God’s will of decree cannot be thwarted. But God’s will of desire, the way he wants us to live in terms of his moral will, can be disregarded by us. 1 John 2: 15-17 says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions are not from the father, but from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
The will of God in this passage is the way that God commands you to live. Doing the will of God means saying no to the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride in your possessions. In other words, the will of desire means that God asks you to do what is pleasing in his sight.
The will of God in this passage is the way that God commands you to live. Doing the will of God means saying no to the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and pride in your possessions. In other words, the will of desire means that God asks you to do what is pleasing in his sight.
Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “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 his law.” This is the closest we come to finding the will of decree and the will of desire side by side in Scripture. God has secret things known only to him, but he also has revealed things that you are meant to know and obey.
It’s God’s will that you avoid sexual immorality. If you don’t, misery always follows because in a sense, you’re outside of his good plan for you. It’s God’s will that you give thanks in all things. It’s God’s will that you obey his commands to love others and love him with all your heart. You don’t have to pray about obeying God’s moral will. “Should I lie or not? Should I commit adultery or not?” The answer is obviously “no”. In some ways, that makes it simple to identify and obey God’s will.
The Bible says that God desires all to be saved. He desires for all of us to repent of our sins and trust Jesus as our Savior and as our Lord. In fact, Jesus’ invitation is to everyone. He says, “Come to me, those who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” That’s God’s will for your life. So in this sense, the will of God is not that mysterious. But it can be hard to follow.
3. God’s will of direction. This is where you ask, “Does God have a specific plan for my life?” Yes, God has a specific plan for your life. He’s created beforehand good works for you to do, as it says in Ephesians 2:10. You will often be able to trace God’s guiding hand when you look back on your life.
Yet God does not burden you with the task of divining a hidden, mysterious will and direction for your life. You should seek his wisdom. You can evaluate the pro and cons as you’re making decisions. You can ask others for advice. But his will is not a corn maze or a tightrope where one false move sends you spinning out of it.
Expecting God to reveal his hidden will of direction is an invitation to disappointment and indecision. He shows you the way of obedience and invites you to follow him. The problem is that you may think he’s going to tell you exactly what that wonderful plan is before it unfolds. You may feel like you need to know what God wants every step of the way, but such preoccupation with finding God’s will leads to misery.
The better way is the biblical way. Seek first the kingdom of God and then trust that he will take care of your needs. Make decisions and move along with life being faithful to Jesus along the way.
How to Make Life’s Biggest Decisions with Wisdom and Faith
There are lots of important decisions to make in life, but there are two big ones that many people wonder about so we’re going to focus on those: how to know what job to take and how to know who to marry. DeYoung’s book gives 4 steps that you can follow for both decisions:
Step 1: Search the Scriptures. There are moral principles that you can follow. Regarding the job, is it within the realm of God’s moral will for your life? Will it provide for your family? Are your God-given talents and abilities suited for the job? Regarding a spouse, the Bible makes it clear that you should only marry someone who loves the Lord and is living for him. It should be someone you enjoy spending time with, who has godly values and virtues, and who demonstrates genuine love and respect towards you.
Step 2: Get wise counsel from others. Many times the people in our lives know or have observed specific things about us that can guide us when making a career decision. Regarding your relationship, do your friends and family think that this is a good fit and that this person is helping you become the person that God intends you to be? Be open and willing to hear others’ thoughts and feedback.
Step 3: Pray about it. Pray for God to lead you to the right job or spouse—and also pray with a willing spirit to change course if the answer is “no”. Pay attention if you feel either internally unsettled or peaceful when you consider one option over another.
Step 4: Make the decision. You can move forward secure in the knowledge that you have sought God’s leading and followed his moral guidelines.
We’ve covered a lot in this episode, and as I said up top, there is more to God’s will than even these principles explain. But for now, I can sum up how to know God’s will fairly simply: Live for God, obey the Scriptures, be holy, and love Jesus.
Recommended Resource:
Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will by Kevin DeYoung