What is the Will of God?

This article is written by a friend. I have posted it with permission.

What is the Will of God?
Monday, 30 July 2012 9:45 a.m
JN


One of the most asked questions for Christians is how to know the will of God. Questions such as
how do I know which city to move to, which subject to study, who to marry, where to invest funds,
which church to go to or which role to take up in church to serve the Lord among others are
bothering many. If only God makes His will clear, our lives will be so much easier.
The fact is God has made His will crystal clear through His Words. His will is that we should love Him
with all our heart, mind and strength, and that we will love one another (Matthew 22:36-40). His will
is that we should glorify Him in all that we do (1 Corinthians 10:31) and live our lives as running a
race with a sole focus of being praised by Him at the finish line (Hebrews 12:1-2). However, are we
truly keen to understand what His will is and to carry it out?
A fine young man came to Jesus eager to know the way to eternal life (Luke 18:18-30). He has tried
hard to achieve it in his own ways. However, Jesus gave him a task that fell out of his expected
framework, one that challenged his love of God above his riches. Instead of carrying out the will of
God, he left with sadness.
It is not uncommon for us to have a perceived framework of how God should work. When God
works differently to our expectation, sadly at times, we may rather reject it and walk away like the
young man. In fact, there is a framework that God is working within, although it is not according to
our wish or feeling. His framework is fully revealed in the Word of God. This framework is clear and
easily understandable, and His wish or will is that we would live accordingly. Disappointingly, there
are times we chose not to, especially when His commands do not fall within our wish list or expected
framework. Commands such as love our neighbours, love our enemies, tithe, be truthful, carry your
cross, be obedience and etc are simply too difficult. How easy would it be if God could just tell me
which enemy I am allowed to annihilate, where to invest my funds that I could be blessed
abundantly or which church to go to receive the best emotional need the way I want, rather than
hearing about the cost of discipleship. Is discipleship even a part of the will of God?
When we seek the will of God, it is important for us to ask ourselves, are we merely expecting help
from God to advance our own ambition? Are we only hoping that God would help us to make a
decision that would bring more blessing to ourselves? God does bless His people and this remains
true till this day. However, there are far more to seeking the will of God than merely seeking a
material blessing from God.
We may not realise that many decisions that appear to stress us out daily may not be as crucial as
we think. Should we move to this city? Should I take up this role in church? Should I take up this job?
Should I buy this house? Have I made a wrong decision by marrying this person or choosing this
career? There are hard decisions that we need to make daily and we wish that God could make them
easier for us. The fact of the matter is these decisions by themselves are often neutral. Whichever
way we choose, it is unlikely that we will displease God, at least not the decision itself. It is how we
execute the decision that matters more. God’s will has remained the same whether we decide to be
in this or that city, to live in this or that house, to marry this or that person, or whether we are rich
or poor. His will is in whatever we do, in wherever we are, do it all for the glory of God. In whatever
decisions that we have already made, we should continue to work to glorify His name. In whatever
decision that we are going to make, we should seek to glorify Him.
How do we know what the will of God is? It is by knowing the Word of God. The Word of God is a gift
from God. He has made His will clear through it. There is no short cut to know the will of God
without being serious about studying the Word of God. A scene we should all avoid is to claim doing
the will of God while doing the exact opposite of what God has clearly stated in His Word. God will
never go against His Word.
  Let us be a true seeker of the will of God by investing our time to know Him through studying His
Words and to live out the will of God in true obedience.