This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Lighting The Future.
What question are counselors and Bible teachers asked more than any other? Here it is:
“How can I know what is the will of God for my life?”
Man is a clever creature, but he has lost his way in the darkness. And that is a shame, for God has promised to guide us.
“The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail” (Isaiah 58:11).
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye” (Psalm 32:8).
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
God does not deal with us en masse; He deals with us as individuals. God makes no duplicates. Everything God makes is an original. Just as every snowflake has its own specific pattern, God made you as an individual, and God has a plan just for you.
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way” (Psalm 37:23).
The same is true for the preacher and for the plumber, for the missionary and the secretary, the businessman and the homemaker.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
You must let God choose the way. How do you do this?
You are not being asked to trust in a proposition, but in God. You cannot trust somebody you don’t know. You cannot know someone you don’t spend time with. Do you know God intimately enough to trust in Him?
“Lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5b). It is always this way: over here is God, and over there is our understanding, our reason—and we are torn between the two. We take the Word of God and parade it past the judgment bar of human reason to see if that is really best, rather than just trusting in God.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12).
This does not mean that we should not have understanding, but that our understanding is to come from the Lord. We are not talking about flying blind; God does give you understanding. This is about letting God choose your way.
You do not surrender to a plan. God’s perfect will for your life is not a road map; it is a relationship. Be glad God does not seal up a plan, hand it to us, and say, “This is what you’re going to do for the next fifty years.” How boring…and maybe frightening.
Every time you come into a new situation, acknowledge God in that situation. Say, “Lord, what do You want me to do here?”
Most of us want to acknowledge God in certain areas of our lives. But Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
It is not one tenth of your income that belongs to God, but ten tenths. Not one in seven of your days, but all of them.
God wants you to buy groceries, make your car payment, lay by savings. But you must take every red cent you have, and every moment you have, and in all your ways acknowledge Him.
Don’t say this won’t work if you have not tried it. You must have full confidence in God, and faithful compliance. Are you really ready for God to do whatever He wants to do in your life? Anywhere, anytime, any cost?
It is one thing for God to choose the way, and another thing for God to confirm that this is the way He has chosen.
Many would say, “Sure, I’ll do God’s will…but I don’t know what it is. I will say ‘anytime, anywhere, any cost,’ but what is the time? Where is the place? What is the cost? I don’t know.”
The Bible says, “He will direct your path” (Proverbs 3:6b). How does God confirm the way?
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
Do you want to know the will of God when you are not obeying the revealed will of God in the written Scriptures? If so, you are wanting God to show you something else, when in some areas it is as plain as day what God wants, and you have not done it.
Prayer is a two-way street. Many of us want to say, “Listen, Lord, your servant is speaking,” rather than, “Speak, Lord, your servant listens.” Do you have a quiet time in your prayer? This is a lost art, listening to God.
God will speak directly to your heart, impressing your spirit with the Holy Spirit. You will feel that sweet communion as He is guiding you.
This is one of the greatest promises in the Word of God:
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5).
What is wisdom? Wisdom is sanctified common sense. Sometimes we think that if we use our minds, we are leaning on our own understanding. But is your mind filled with the Spirit of God? Get your heart clean, get your motives clear, search His Word, pray, and then do what you think you ought to do.
Why would God renew your mind and then not use it?
“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it” (Revelation 3:8a). God will guide you providentially.
You try, and try, and try to do something. But there is a shut door. Then, in God’s timing, He opens a door somewhere else. That is Him guiding you, and you can have confidence in the will of God. Let’s look again at our key Scripture:
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
That word “direct” comes from the Hebrew word yashar, which means “to clear the way.” It is a word for clearing obstacles.
God will choose the way, confirm the way, and then He will clear the way. God will open, and no man will shut, and God will shut, and no man will open. Do you think that there is anything God wants you to do that cannot be done because He is not able to make it happen for you? Oh, no.
God will light your path, if in all of your ways, you will acknowledge Him. Do not lean on your own understanding. Have faith in God with all of your heart.
Proverbs 3:5-6, 14:12; Isaiah 58:11; Psalm 32:8, 37:23, 119:105; Ephesians 2:10; James 1:5; Revelation 3:8
O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps (Jeremiah 10:23).
My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding… (Proverbs 2:1-6).
This great and wide sea, in which are innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great. There the ships sail about; there is that Leviathan which You have made to play there. These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season. What You give them they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good. You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth (Psalm 104:25-30).
