thoughts and ruminations while in exile (1 Pet. 2:11)

Don't expect Him to tell you what it is before it happens, it's just that simple. I recommend reading this book by Kevin DeYoung if you're currently struggling with this issue. The subtitle of the book is rather catchy: "How to make a decision without dreams, visions, fleeces, impressions, open doors, random Bible verses, casting lots, liver shivers, writing in the sky, etc." It's provocative and sarcastic, just the way I like it.

In chapter two of the book, DeYoung starts by asking, "If God has a wonderful plan for my life, as the evangelistic tract tells us, then why doesn't He tell me what it is?" Let's face it, we have a bunch of questions to which we want answers. Here are a few: What kind of career do I want? Should I get married? Whom should I marry? What kind of car should I buy? What kind of house should I buy? We all want answers to these questions. Worse yet, we feel that if we make a wrong decision, we may be out of the "center of God's will" for our lives.

So how should we go about finding God's will for our lives? That is, if we need God to give us direction regarding a particular upcoming decision, how should we go about finding it? And why do we have such a difficult time figuring this out anyway? I agree with DeYoung: "[M]aybe we have difficulty discovering God's wonderful plan for our lives because, if the truth be told, He doesn't really intend to tell us what it is. And maybe we're wrong to expect Him to."

DeYoung points out that many people have a hard time discovering what God's will for their life is because they think about the will of God in the wrong way. He says many people think the will of God is a secret that they must figure out before they can make any decisions. DeYoung poses the question this way: "Does God have a secret will of direction that He expects us to figure out before we do anything?" Answer: No. Yes, God has a specific plan for my life, but I am wrong to expect him to tell me what is going to happen in the future in my life. Rather, I am to pray, ask God for wisdom, and then, as the book title says, "Just do something." The best sentence in this chapter is this: "God does have a specific plan for our lives, but it is not one that He expects us to figure out before we make a decision." God, in his goodness, has not laid that burden on our shoulders.

This thought is incredibly freeing. It is freeing because it is a blessing to know how to go about making decisions in one's life. Yet, because we live in this world, when it comes to God's specific will for our lives, we will never have one hundred percent certainty regarding every decision we make (Note, I'm not talking about God's revealed will expressed in the Ten Commandments; those are clear). As DeYoung notes, "God is not a Magic 8-Ball we shake up and peer into whenever we have a decision to make. He is a good God who gives us brains, shows us the way of obedience, and invites us to take risks for Him."

Admittedly, the above approach to finding God's will for one's life is not very exciting. After all, who wants to settle for praying, reading the Bible, and then, well, doing something? That takes time and effort and . . . risk.