A clerk in a large bookstore started laughing while checking out a customer’s two selections. She apologized in case she had caused offense, but she couldn’t help giggling. The first title the clerk rang up was Conversations with God. The second? How to Argue and Win Every Time.
Let’s face it. Sometimes when we ask for God’s help in a decision, we just want echoes instead of guidance. We want God to simply agree to what we’ve already planned. We should say, “Speak Lord; your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3) but instead we say, “Listen, Lord; your servant is speaking.”
After 16 months of pandemic restrictions, many of us have developed a crippling uncertainty about what to do next. How can we have any confidence over the decisions we make and the plans we put in place?
According to Ephesians 5:17, knowledge of God's will is available, and searching for it can keep you from making some really dumb mistakes. Paul wrote, “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
How can you discover God’s will? The late John Stott taught five ways to discover God’s will: Yield, Pray, Ask, Think, and Wait.
Yield to God’s will. Until we are willing to do anything he wants, we cannot hear the will of God above the noise of our own plans.
Pray for God’s guidance. A vague surrender is not enough; sustained, expectant prayer is also necessary.
Ask for advice. Get feedback from people you trust.
Think it through. Although it’s good to ask others for advice, you’ll have to make up your own mind. And, praise God, he has given you a marvelous mind to make up!
Wait for an answer. If we have to make a decision by a certain deadline, we must make it. But if not, and the way forward still seems uncertain, it is wiser to wait.
Let’s go into more detail on these five steps this Sunday! Join me at 10am on campus or online.
--Tom
Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.