This is a common question that comes up time and again. How can I know God’s will? Particularly, people want to know how can I know God’s will for my life?
There is lots we could say, most of it probably not very helpful. I am, if nothing else, a simple man who likes simple solutions who believes that we live in a world beset by people trying to make simple issues unnecessarily complicated. So let’s just make the matter simple.
There are two fundamental ways to know God’s will for your life. Two straightforward ways that will save you a lot of handwringing and anxiety about whether you have “discovered” his will or not. There is a lot of theology that underpins these two fundamental means of knowing that I am not going to go into, you can just trust me that it is there. I can point you in its direction another time if you so desire.
The primary means of knowing God’s will for your life is to read the Bible. In scripture, God has revealed himself to us along with everything that he wants from us and for us. Feel free to cite the Reformed confession of your choosing, but I’ll run with the 1689 Baptist Confession of faith for our purposes here:
1.1 – The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience,1 although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet they are not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and His will which is necessary unto salvation.2 Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in diversified manners to reveal Himself, and to declare (that) His will unto His church;3 and afterward for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which makes the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God’s revealing His will unto His people being now completed.4
1.6 – The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men.9 Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word,10 and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.11
1.7 – All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all;12 yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, may attain to a sufficient understanding of them.13
1.10 – The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.21
The key comment worth highlighting here from Chapter 1, paragraph 6 is this one: ‘The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture’. In short, we know what God wants by scripture and anything that is not in scripture is not necessary for us to glorify God, be saved, and live faithful lives.
The primary means of knowing God’s will is the scripture. If you want to know what God wants for your life, open up the Bible and see what he tells you about your life. Can’t find the very specific piece of advice that you were hoping God would tell you in scripture – whether to take this or that job, buy this or that house, eat this or that for dinner, etc, etc? If it isn’t in the Bible and it isn’t called sin, it is entirely in line with God’s will for your life.
The second means of knowing God’s will is your own inclinations. As Christians, we believe that the Holy Spirit regenerates, sanctifies and comes to dwell within us. As believers, the Holy Spirit works to change us and our inclinations so that we are no longer hostile to God but holy and fit for service. As such, our inclinations – that is, whatever we most want to do – becomes a significant guide in knowing God’s will.
Now, before we say more, the guide of our inclination comes after we have looked to scripture. The scripture is God’s infallible Word that is always right and true. We are fallible and our hearts, though changed, are not devoid of sinful inclinations once we believe in Jesus. It would, therefore, be a mistake to simply do whatever we were inclined to do without reference to scripture. Our priority must be placed on what it says rather than our personal desire.
However, if we are in receipt of the Holy Spirit – that is, we have trusted in Jesus – and we have looked at the scriptures and understand what, if anything, they say specifically about any given decision in front of us, assuming we are not then flouting what scripture says, we are free to do whatever we want. We can trust that the Spirit will work on our inclinations and sanctify our choices, such as if we are not flouting the scriptures, we are therefore making a godly choice.
To quote Augustine of Hippo and make it really simple: ‘love God and do whatever you please’. If you love God you will love his Word and pay attention to the scripture. If you love God, you are in receipt of the Holy Spirit because you cannot love God apart from the Spirit. If you are paying attention to scripture and the Spirit is at work within you, you can, indeed, do whatever you want. Do the thing that you are most inclined to do.
I said I wouldn’t dig deeply into the theology that underpins this, and I’m not going to. But I will briefly mention one underpinning factor. We believe in a sovereign God who is able to make himself known and understood, who is able to preserve his Word to us so that we can know his will for us, and who can change our thoughts, will and intentions. A sovereign God who is the author of salvation is able to order events to bring about his salvation and alter wills and inclinations that, without his intervention, can and would never believe.
If that much is true, then that same sovereign God must be sovereign over the thoughts, will and intentions of his people. That same sovereign God who does not even let so much as a sparrow fall to the ground apart from his say so is surely able to sovereignly work so that his people choose to do that which he wants them to do. Nothing happens in the universe outside of God’s decretive will, and if we are actively looking into the scriptures and acting on it, we are equally not acting outside of God’s preceptive will either. If we are neither acting outside God’s decretive nor preceptive will, we almost certainly aren’t acting outside of his dispositional will either (for a brief introduction to the forms of God’s will, see here). That same sovereign God can order events and work both with and on our inclinations such that, if we are looking into scripture and seeking to act in line with it, we can then simply do whatever we want.
Trying to discover God’s secret, decretive will is a fool’s errand. God’s Word tells us, ‘the secret things belong to God’. But his preceptive will tells us what he wants from us directly, which he lays out for us in scripture; and God is pleased when his people seek to be faithful to his Word. So, we can know God’s will for us by opening the Bible, reading his Word, seeking to act in line with it and, when we have done that, trusting the work of Holy Spirit, we can simply do whatever we want.
Amen. To paraphrase Solomon in Ecclesiastes, ‘do what you like: just bear in mind you’ll be judged for it!’
I wish someone had told me this when I first became a Christian. It took me a long time to learn this. I was in an environment that told me I had to find ‘God’s will for my life.’
When someone is carrying the baggage of sinful choices and mistakes though, and they ask about God’s will for them, do you have anything different to tell them?
On the basis of Paul’s statement ‘let he that stole steal no more,’ I take the view that the same applies … they must abandon wilful and deliberate sin and seek to obey His known will. They may have to live with the consequences of their past mistakes, but they needn’t be paralysed by forgiven sin. But often folk still seem haunted by fears that what’s left for them is second or third best.
I can’t say I do have different advice. Seeking God’s will for life today is the same for everybody. Whatever situation you are in, and whatever caused you to be in it, the question for every believer is: what does scripture say to do in this situation? How can I be faithful in this situation? Then, when we know what scripture tells us about it, we similarly do whatever we want such that it doesn’t contravene the Word.
Past sin and living with baggage is simply a fact of life. Seeking God’s will when you have failed to do so in the past I don’t think changes how you discern God’s will for you now.
‘How can I be faithful in this situation?’ That’s a simple and great way of putting it….. It cut straight through my waffle. Thanks.
Decision Making and the Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View
by Garry Friesen
When it comes to God’s will, I agree with Friesen’s perspective.
Thank you for the article.