Discerning God’s Will
Overview
Over the next five weeks, our journey together will cover discerning God’s will. Have you ever started something without thought or planning? Perhaps it was as simple as a meal or as great as a career change. I am sure we all have done this at least once or twice. As your walk with God improved over the years, have you ever ventured into something without considering His will? I’m sure we all have done this at least once or twice.
I am not an expert in discerning God’s will, but I do have extensive experience answering “yes” to the two questions posed. I will provide supportive quotes and personal anecdotes along the way as I also am still learning. Please share your experiences and lessons learned.
Our format will explore five additional questions:
- Is it God’s will for us to know God’s will.
- Is it possible to know God’s will.
- Why is it important for me to know and follow God’s will.
- Is God’s will unique and specific to me.
- How do I discover or recognize God’s will for me.
We will use the Bible for answers, as it is the true source of wisdom.
Context for Discerning God’s Will
There is a passage of Scripture that came to mind after I posed the first question during my study.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”–Isaiah 55:8, 9
In isolation or out of context, those texts give the impression that God is a secretive God, and He is trying to hide something. It then leads one to believe life to be filled with unpredictability and randomness. Two disturbing notions arise. Either our lives are chaotic and arbitrary as a pilotless boat at sea or one where God micromanages our days and we are puppets on a string.
Either view is equally dangerous!
A unique interpretation arises in the chapter’s complete context, and even more so in the book of Isaiah. We will just stay in chapter 55 for now.
Discerning God’s will through the prophet Isaiah
Isaiah was the prophet to Judah during the reigns of King Uzziah through to King Ammon. These were six mostly wicked kings of Judah. Judah, after King Solomon’s reign, was on a downward spiritual spiral with occasional sparks of hope. To be honest, the plunge started during King Solomon’s reign. God appointed Isaiah to give warning to God’s chosen people. It was a call to repentance from their idolatry and neglect of the True God.
Verse Exploration
In chapter 55, beginning in verse 1, he presented an invitation to the people. He invited them to seek God, drink of the Living Water, cast their lots with God, partner with God, and resume their original calling as the head and not the tail.
Isaiah appealed to their sense of spiritual economy in verse 2 in that they were wasting their substance. He appealed to their covenant status and their role as God’s ambassadors to the world in verses 3-5.
Then in verse 6, he challenged them to seek for God—they can find Him, call Him, He is near.
Verses 7-9 admonished them to put away their ways of thinking and doing and adopt God’s way of thinking and doing. God’s ways are much higher than the worldly ways of thinking and doing. This is how they were to be blessed (verses 10-13), by discerning God’s will and being in it.
Is it God’s will for us to know God’s will?
Yes, He (God) invited them to know the will of God!
The Meekness of Wisdom
Overview
James, the brother of Christ, and the elder of the Jerusalem church, speaks decisively on wisdom. In the opening of his letter to the Jewish diaspora, he niches it within a lengthy discourse on the blessing of temptations. That concept, often considered an oxymoron, is surely a discussion for another time; he directly instructs how one gains wisdom—ask God, but ask in faith (James 1:5).
Biblical References
The Bible itself is full of discussion on wisdom and the comparison and contrast of the wisdom of God with the wisdom of men. The latter is a contradiction in terms as we find that wisdom is of God. James stated this, and David (Psalm 111:10), as well as his son Solomon (Proverbs 2:6), declared it centuries before. Paul, the apostle and scholar, had a lot to say about wisdom and lists it as a gift of the Holy Spirit in I Corinthians 12:8.
Spiritual Gifts
It was while doing some background reading on the spiritual gifts that I came across James’ revisit on wisdom in chapter 3. He used a term that fascinated me and I wanted to explore it deeper. Here, he takes the concept of the acquisition of wisdom to a different level. In chapter 1, as mentioned, he outlines how one attains wisdom. You ask God, Who gives it liberally because of faith. It is a gift. In chapter 3, however, James outlines the application of the gift of wisdom to avoid its misuse. Thus, the purpose and use in wielding such a powerful gift is for it to be done in a certain spirit.
Correct Use of Wisdom
He undergirds this application with the term “meekness of wisdom” (James 3:13). At first glance, it is almost counterintuitive. Perhaps that is because we have too often been witness to the wisdom of man and have used that experience as our yardstick. To help us grasp this concept, he immediately contrasts the two types of wisdom, beginning in verse 14. Hence, the wisdom of man is displayed as knowledge corrupted by envying, strife, lies, sensuality, and devilishness. Wisdom that we get from God, upon request, is pure, gentle, of a cooperative bent, merciful, genuine, and with positive results. Interestingly, peace seeking is at the core of the application of wisdom and is a fruit of the Spirit that is seen through Scripture (Psalm 34:14, Romans 12:18, and Hebrews 12:14).
Recap
James has made particular strides to show that although wisdom comes to some by the allotment of spiritual gifts; it is available to those who ask God in faith. Paul tells us to covet the best gifts in I Corinthians 12:31. We all could use a little more wisdom on our Christian journey.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You for Your gifts and for choosing to bless us with them. We thank You and seek Your gift of wisdom. We want to be filled by your Spirit to minister to others and to help give them insight into Your will for their lives. Give us the humility to handle Your blessings. Please give us the meekness of wisdom so that we will have discernment and maturity to counsel and instruct. As You fill us, may the outflow of our lives be only for Your glory, for we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Christ Was Born—Now What?
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” John 3:17.
The power of choice is real, yet pervasive.
A recent Twitter post disturbed me. It stated that while many are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, others are debating the date of his birth.
There is one group who chooses not to accept that Christ was born on December 25. They are possibly correct in that the only eyewitnesses we have are God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, Joseph, Mary, and the angels. The only evidence we have is that as documented by the gospel writers. The shepherds came after the fact and the so-called wise men were not in the same time period. I love the account as given in Luke chapter 2 and Linus presented it in such a heartwarming rendition in the Charlie Brown Christmas special, a holiday requisite.
There is yet a second group that chooses not to accept the deity of Christ, or the more commonly referred to Immaculate Conception, that is the Holy Spirit impregnating the Mary, a young virgin. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 714); “But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:20).
Pregnancy and childbirth are miraculous events in and of themselves. Most people tout nine (9) months as the ideal for a full-term birth. However, in perinatology, the study of fetal and infant medical care, we recognize that nine-month pregnancy is actually four (4) weeks premature and that 40 weeks, or 10 months, is actually the expected course. One can only imagine what took place 2000+ years ago “as shepherds watched their flocks by night.” Suddenly, angels who had missed their commander for 10 months, burst on the scene saying (not singing, as recently pointed out by my uncle) “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill unto men” (Luke 2:13, 14). What a night that must have been! Fast-forward 2000+ years and some have become rather reticent to proclaim this marvelous event.
Both of the aforementioned groups miss out on two important gifts during this season. There is the gift of appreciation for Christ’s birth and all that it entails—His simple, yet flawless life; His death on a cruel cross, accepting our punishment for sin; His resurrection; His ascension; His continual intercession on our behalf and His soon return to reclaim those who love Him. It is a package deal; it is good news!
The second gift is the wonderful opportunity to share this good news, especially during this Christmas season. Hearts are full of love, attuned to benevolence, and are fertile ground to receive the greatest gift, that of the miracle of Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1: 1, 14). This is Immanuel—“God with us” (Matthew 1:23)!
Thus, my prayer for us is that we will share Christ at Christmas. I pray we will focus more on the coming Christ, rather than on the coming crisis. I pray we would not only remember the first coming of Jesus, but look with expectation to His second. I pray that we would have peace and goodwill towards each other. I pray we will experience the true and intended blessings of the Christmas season.
Christ was born; oh come let us adore Him!
Lasting Beauty
“The grass withers and the flowers fade,
Isaiah 40:8 (NLT)
but the word of our God stands forever.”
If the Hose Moves
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Revelation 12:17, KJV
One warm summer day, I went to water the garden and plant sweet potato slips. I turned on the spigot and walked toward the garden. Something in my head said “look down, to the left”, and there I spied it, just a step or two away from the hose. It resembled the hose and looked like a long black branch, common in the yard, but mind you, branches don’t have curves—at least not in this area. Is that a snake?!
Yes, it was black, around four feet, and definitely not my cup of tea. Obviously, neither of us expected the other, so we both paused, and made the best of the encounter. As I was in an otherwise peaceful frame of mind, I didn’t feel the need to induce harm on one of God’s creatures. If it had been my father writing this story, it would have ended rather abruptly as a Haiku:
Look, a snake below
I took it out with one blow
It is cursed you know
Or,
Isn’t that a snake?
Yes, but not any longer
Snakes are not my friends
I proceeded to the garden alone, or so I thought. As I picked up the spray nozzle, I again looked down, to the left, and there was my newfound friend, who had also made the 75-foot trek to the garden. This was curious but definitely not a welcomed situation. Again, not expecting each other, or as least I was not, we both paused, and realizing a situation was not about to develop, it turned and slithered off into a dense portion of the garden. I turned and watered the garden.
Seconds later, the snake reemerged and headed straight towards me! “Friend”, I exclaimed, “you really need a hobby!” The garden hoe was there and I could have done what I knew to do. However, again we both paused, and then it meandered off to another portion of the yard to live another day.
Believe it or not, you and I face this scenario almost every day as we are pawns in an unseen spiritual battle as good and evil rage about us. Many attuned to this cosmic warfare recite 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” Thus, this is how they often depict him in movies, TV, books, and other forms of media, as overt and scary.
How many of realize that this is not his only form of approach? Our introduction to the concept of evil came in Genesis 3, where the devil approached Eve not as a brash dragon, but as a smooth, seductive, and sinister serpent. He presented himself as a friend who just wanted companionship, someone to talk over a few ideas. As perfect beings, literally made from the hand of God, dwelling in a most pristine and pure venue, she and her husband fell from grace and generations continue to suffer the consequences.
In retrospect, a divine hoe would have taken care of necessary business. It is not too late, as he presents us with temptations every day. We could pause and consider the ideas presented and therefore fall in the battle or we could swing the mighty sword of God’s Word, as our Example and Savior, Jesus Christ did when He proclaimed the first line of the divine Haiku, “For it is written!”
So as in “Bees in the Cookie Jar” (August 19, 2022), be careful where you place your hands and if the hose moves, don’t pick it up!
Full
“How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Psalms 119:103 NKJV
Someone once asked me how they would know if they’ve done enough during their personal time of prayer and Bible study. It depends on what you need.
I inherited a bad habit from my father in that I drive on the last bit of gas “E” or empty or as some people call it—“fumes and a prayer”. I will pass every available gas station either to get home, find a cheaper price, or a station I prefer. This habit has extended to many aspects—the lawn mower, my cell phone, or food items. Rather than fill up when I have the chance, I gamble, if you would, with a partial or near empty supply.
My favorite author describes Bible study as a “banquet” “spread before us” where “we are invited to eat the Word of God”.[1] Given that she penned this metaphor in 1900, I imagine the banquet she describes is not the banquet of modern days, where one gets fancied up and then served enough to feed a small five-year-old! I prefer to imagine that what she intended is today’s all-you-can-eat buffet—where you pay one price and eat an endless supply of delicacies until satisfied and full!
This is my answer to the question—how much personal Bible study and prayer is enough? It depends on what one needs. I am not an expert in piety or devotion, and my spiritual journey, which I am sharing with you, has evolved over the years. Whereas it can satisfy one with a quick prayer and a Bible “verse of the day”, perhaps it is because they are functioning near capacity of their spiritual fuel tank. I, for one, need a fresh fill up each morning, thus, I start with prayer following the ACTS model (Adoration or praise for Who God is, Confession of sins, Thanksgiving for what God does, and Supplication for my needs and the needs of others). I then have a soft song to further usher me into God’s presence as I continue to pray and meditate on His Word. Friends and relatives send me various devotional readings, scriptures, or encouragement, which I add to the session. Then I conclude with a rousing song of praise and a slide show of encouraging texts and quotes. It may look like a lot or for some, not enough, but it is what I need to fill me up as I know that by the time I experience a day of tasks, trials, and temptations I am depleted and on “fumes and a prayer”.
Some may use the verse “Taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8)” as an excuse to “sample” the Word, as if in a grocery store. However, Christ invites us to eat of His flesh and drink His blood (John 6:55), the point being to get to know Him.
I invite you, if you are hungry, to plant yourself in a chair at the buffet of His Word and dig in, indulge, enjoy, and leave His presence—full.
[1] Ellen G. White, Letter 132, 1900.
Solid Rock
“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.”
Luke 6:47-48 ESV