What is God's Will for My Life?

What is one of the most commonly asked questions by restless teenagers, fearful young adults, successful businesspeople, lonely single-parents, and frail grandparents?  The answer is “what is God’s will for my life?” 

If you would like to hear more about God's will for your life, you are warmly welcomed to come and join us for our next Bible study tomorrow night (Wednesday, April 13).  We will meet from 6:30 to 8 PM at 9257 Amsden Way in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.  Our time together will be spent in fellowship and discussion about God's will for our lives as we study the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. 

If you are interested in reading more about God's will for your life, see Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will by Kevin DeYoung.  DeYoung gives profound insight as well as biblical wisdom to struggling pilgrims living a life filled with emotional and physical sufferings in this present evil age. 
The problem, as DeYoung states, is that “our search for the will of God has become an accomplice in the postponement of growing up, a convenient out for the young (or old) Christian floating through life without direction or purpose. Too many of us have passed off our instability, inconsistency, and endless self-exploration as ‘looking for God's will,’ as if not making up our minds and meandering through life were marks of spiritual sensitivity.”  

DeYoung’s answer to this problem is that God is not a magic 8-ball, a cosmic genie, or a divine butler.  Rather, “we have no promise in Scripture that God will speak to us apart from the Spirit speaking through His Word” (Hebrews 1:1-3).  What a comfort to rest in God’s providence, which is “the almighty everywhere present power of God, whereby, as with His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth, and all creatures; and so governs them, that leaf and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand” (Heidelberg 27).    

So, what is God’s will for our lives?  DeYoung says we are not given step-by-step instructions in life, but we are to look to God’s word for guidance and wisdom.  In the Bible, we see that God’s will is for us to rejoice, pray, and give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).  Colossians 1:9 says we are to bear fruit and know God better by hiding his Word in our hearts that we might not sin against him (Psalm 119:11).  God’s will for his people is that we grow in holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3), so we ought to pray that we will make decisions based on “faith, hope, and love—and not the praise of man and greed and selfish ambition.”