Growing up on a dairy farm next to the railroad tracks meant we saw a lot of trains. Throw in my father’s lifelong love of trains (he now works for Union Pacific), and we all shared his fascination.
At a young age (8-10 years old), my brother and I would play train on our quad on the farm (most likely while we were supposed to be doing something else). My older brother would be the engineer, and I’d be the conductor. I’d yell “all aboard!” as he applied the gas, then I’d jump on as he zipped past. We reversed roles, so now I was the engineer as he jumped on.
As we played this game one day, my brother hurled himself aboard the “train” but misstepped. After slipping off the running board, he flipped over the front of the quad, and I ran him over. Face first. By God’s grace, we almost always wore our helmets, so the impact was blunted. But I still felt pretty bad running him over and seeing him lay in the dirt as I rode off into the sunset. Call it recompense for him shooting me with the bb gun, though that’s a story for another day.
I have often felt how I imagine my brother felt that day, wondering what went wrong as he watched the train leave the station.
Missing the Train
People often talk about the will of God as if it were the last train leaving the station, and they missed it. Now they’ll forever be relegated to a mediocre life, watching God move from afar.
Greatly concerned, someone told me how they were concerned about which home to buy. This person wanted to be sure they were submitting their decision to God’s will, which is admirable. But their two options were both spec homes on the same street within $2000 in price, 50 square feet in size, containing the same number of bedrooms, bathrooms, garage spaces, and yard size. Yet, they were convinced one of these homes was God’s will and acted like the other was likely sitting on an undetected sinkhole.
Don’t hear me wrong: we ought to consult God and seek his guidance in our decision-making. What concerns me is how often we feel like God’s going to punish us or we’ll live a lesser life if we somehow get it wrong. It’s the feeling that life will happen without us if we choose the wrong college, job, town, spouse, church, etc. The train left without us and God’s good gifts with it.
What is the will of God?
So what is the will of God? There are two forms of it:
- God’s secret will
- God’s revealed will
Deut. 29:29 says the secret things belong to God. His secret will is beyond our comprehension and is unknowable. Yet, his revealed will, that which we see in scripture, is what he invites us to pursue. We see God’s will mentioned throughout the Bible (Matthew 6:10, Matthew 7:21, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 5:17, 1 Thes. 4:3, 1 Thes. 5:18, Hebrews 10:36, 1 John 2:17).
So, what is it? The will of God is that we’ll do what he’s asked us to do. Essentially, we’ll adhere to his commands of loving God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:36-40) and that we’ll go and share him with those around us (Matthew 28:18-20). In that sense, God’s will is all around us. We can do it wherever, no matter our job, home, etc. Yes, we should still consult God when choosing a career, house, etc., but God can likely use any of those for his glory (I say likely because capping knees or dealing drugs for Jesus is a hard sell).
So, if God’s will isn’t necessarily as complex as we make it, how do we make sure we’re making God-honoring decisions?
Making God-honoring decisions
Henry Blackaby’s classic Experiencing God illustrates how God speaks. He speaks personally through the Holy Spirit (John 15:26), the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17), through prayer (Luke 11:1-4), and He also speaks through our circumstances and through the Church (1 Cor. 12:27). With that said, here are some questions to consider when making decisions:
- Would your decision go against what the Bible teaches? If so, it’s probably not God’s will.
- Would your decision go against your conscience/the Holy Spirit? If so, it’s probably not God’s will.
- Have you submitted your decision to prayer? If not, why not? If you don’t want to pray about it, it’s probably not God’s will.
- Have you submitted your decision to the wise counsel of your spiritual leaders and those in the church? If not, why not? It may not be God’s will if you do not want them to know about it.
When we collectively seek God’s wisdom through these means, we can be assured that we are seeking God’s will in good faith. While we will still make mistakes along the way, and our decisions often have unintended consequences, God, in His sovereignty, can still work in and through you.
Psalm 37:4-5 is a great promise of God. As we submit ourselves to God and seek his guidance, he will give us the fulfillment of our desires; that is if He is our desire.
We’re bound to make mistakes along the way. We may even get ourselves run over by a quad. But we aren’t going to miss the train, not if we desire to please God. After all, God is both the means and the end to what we seek.
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