How To Know God"s Will Series

There was a day when it was not considered out of order to challenge a preacher from the

congregation, even in the middle of his sermon. In that day there was a preacher who spoke in

favor of shoeing horses, and a mule skinner stood up and took issue by saying, "If God almighty

had thought it right hosses should have iron on thar feet, he'd a put it thar himself. I don't pretend

to be a pious man, but I'm not a goin to run against the will of God almighty, though there's some

that call themselves ministers that does."

Times have changed, to be sure, but man has not, and conflicts similar as this go on all the

time over a multitude of matters. Every serious minded Christian is concerned about the will of

God, and must stand for his convictions. The problem comes when equally serious minded

Christians have opposite convictions, and both are justifying their convictions by saying they are

following the will of God. What if John is convinced that its the will of God that he marry Jane,

but Jane doesn't get that message, but one just the opposite? Obviously we cannot equate the will

of God with man's convictions, even the most godly of men, for man's convictions are always

most strong in those areas where men are in most disagreement. Every error that has ever been a

threat to truth has been held with deep conviction. Therefore, deep conviction is no adequate

measure of the will of God.

If you equate God's will with conviction, then God's will becomes utter chaos, and is used as a

weapon to try and block opposition. After all, if you say God led you to your conviction, those

who oppose it are oppose to God. This is the logic that leads to so many religious battles. If

God's will is at the mercy of man's subjective taste and feelings, then it no wonder that it is such a

major problem for Christians to be sure of God's will. Life seems to be so complex, and

controversy seems to be so wide spread, that many lose confidence that God's will can be known

with any certainty. We know we are in the world to serve Christ, and to strive toward the goal of

being Christ-like, but the roads to that goal seem so complicated that we stand at crossroads every

day trying to decide which is the best road to take to reach the goal.

We often feel like the man trying to direct some tourists to a certain hotel in downtown New

York. After several futile attempts to point out the complicated route he gave up in frustration,

and said, "If you're going there I wouldn't start from here, its to complicated." That sounds silly,

for you have to start from where you are, but on the other hand, it may provide an answer by

which we can make a complicated subject more simple. If we start from where we are, it will be

difficult to get everyone on the same road, for we all have different problems, and we all stand at

different crossroads, wondering which road will take us in God's will. We cannot begin to cover

all of the many subjects that are on the minds of a whole congregation, but we can establish some

basic principles that will fit every situation.

We could start with Paul, for he gives us these basic principles, but we want to go all the way

back to the beginning in order to get a picture in our minds that can be of help. Back in the days

of ultimate simplicity in the garden of Eden God said to Adam and Eve that they could eat of all

the trees in the garden but one. God's will for them fell into a simple negative and positive.

There were no complex decisions to be made as to what was right, and what was wrong. They

were free to do anything but what was forbidden. Even then they stepped out of God's will, and

so we see that simplicity and certainty are no guarantee of obedience.

Nevertheless, we can look back and think how marvelous if we could know God's will so

clearly. We feel the complexity of modern life has made it almost impossible, but I am convinced

this is not the case. Most of our problems are of our own making, and all the fretting and

worrying that many Christians do is self-inflicted torment. I cannot believe God has made His

will so obscure that His children must go through frustrating and agonizing efforts to discover it.

I believe the same basic pattern that was in Eden still applies today.

God did not control Adam and Eve like puppets. He did not say, now eat a banana; now pick