God’s Will
We've probably all wondered what God's will is for our lives. It's something that you may hear someone ask when they are making career changes, if they aren't happy in their marriage, or if they are wondering what their next step in life should be. You may have even wondered..."Just what does it even mean to be in God's will?". I recently read a book, “What to Do Until Love Finds You”, by Michelle McKinney Hammond, and I’m not going to go into the details of the book, but wanted to recognize what lead me to this particular topic. In this book, it talks about God's will for our life. I was reminded that I am to allow God to guide my life. I am to love Him with all of my heart and soul. And I am to show that love to others.
So what is God’s will?
We were all created by God in His image. We each have a purpose and He has a plan for our life. Romans 12: 2 states that God’s will is “His good, pleasing, and perfect will”. Wow! That word “perfect” is like icing on the cake for us. I think of the preparations I put into something that is important to me. I go above and beyond the call of duty to make things extraordinary at times… God’s will is perfection for us- extraordinarily planned.
1. God wants us to have a relationship with Him, our Father, through Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 says, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
So, have a relationship with God… Sounds simple enough, but I can’t tell you the number of times I have gotten distracted from my relationship with the Lord. What I have found is that the more time I spend with God in prayer and in reading His word, the more I crave spending time with Him. And when I do allow myself to be distracted, it shows in everything I do. God’s intention for our relationship with Him is to give us peace. John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
And John 16: 33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Peace in times of trouble… sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it’s there. We have all gone through those times where one storm after another hits. When those storms hit, I am a lot better at riding it out when my relationship with God is strong.
2. His will for each of us is to be disciples by telling others of His love and grace.
1 Corinthians 9: 10-11 says, “Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing the harvest.”
I don’t know about ya’ll, but I can honestly say that when my relationship with God is strong and growing, no one can stop me from sharing how I feel about God. Even in the storms, I praise His name.
Now, you may choose to stop reading here, or read the rest of the story. In the book mentioned earlier, the author made reference to the story of Jonah. Since I was not brought up in church like many of you, I knew only bits and pieces of Jonah’s story. I didn’t know the details and didn’t know what this had to do with God’s will. First of all, I didn’t really know who Jonah was. Going all the way back to 2 Kings 14:23-25, we learn that Johan was a prophet during the reign of King Jeroboam II over
Jonah 1:1-3 Jonah receives a direct order from God to go to
This is where you and I come in. I will admit that I have definitely known that the path I am on is not one that God is pleased with… but I keep skipping right along until a storm comes up and that’s just what Jonah did. The similarities between me, you, and Jonah are uncanny.
Jonah 1:4-5 tell us that a terrible storm blows up and Jonah goes below and falls asleep. Now I am thinking that Jonah was hiding out because he had messed up BIG TIME, or maybe he was depressed and ashamed of how he had disobeyed God. None the less, Jonah did not want to deal with the problem. I think that I’ve done this a time or two. But, just like Jonah… We can’t hide from our problems forever.
In Jonah 1: 7-15, the crew of Jonah’s boat seeks him out and questions him about God’s wrath on them. Jonah knows it’s time to face the music and fess up to what he has done… He even tells his men that to save themselves they will have to throw him overboard. I don’t know about you but this also sounds familiar. People will feed you to the fishes when you have wronged them. I can almost imagine how Jonah was feeling at this time, because I’ve been in the same boat- figuratively of course.
SOS…Man Overboard!!!!
No one saw this one coming! Jonah 1:17, God sends a big fish, a whale, to swallow Jonah and he stayed in the whale’s belly for 3 days. Well, I’m no Jonah, but I assume that Jonah experienced many emotions at this time. I think he may have been thankful that he was alive at times, wishing he were dead at times, and confused much of the time. I can imagine the conversation he held with God. “I promise God that if I ever get out of this whale’s belly, I will do whatever it is you want whether I like it or not.” I’ve had that conversation myself… minus the whale’s belly, of course.
Now Jonah’s prayer was really not so simple. Jonah 2: 8-9:
“Those who cling to worthless idols
Forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
Will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the Lord.”
Jonah yielded to the will of God and surrendered all to His authority.
This is a great example of a man, who loves God, going against God’s will, coming to their knees, and recognizing God’s authority. The circumstances of rebellion can wreak havoc on our lives, but thank God we have these instructions that teach us how to be in His will.
