Finding the Will of God

It is God's will that you should be sanctified…

1 Thessalonians 4:3a

Is there any problem more difficult to a Christian than the problem of finding the will of God? There are, of course, those Christians who snap their fingers at this whole matter of finding the will of God and go on their own way, thus raising very serious questions as to whether they are Christians at all. But to anyone who takes the Christian faith seriously, this is usually a perplexing matter and he feels troubled over this question: How can I find the will of God?

It is highly significant to note how this question is usually put. The will of God is frequently conceived of as some kind of program. This idea is reflected in the questions that are asked: How can I find what God wants me to do? Who is it that God intends that I should marry? What kind of business does God want me to be in? What line of work should I follow? Where should I live?

Such questions indicate that, in the minds of those who ask them, the problem of finding the will of God has resolved itself into a matter of guidance. How will God indicate his choice to me? What are the signs to look for that I may know, between two or three possible objectives, which is the right one? How much do circumstances enter into the picture? How much am I to be led by what happens to me? These are the usual questions that are evoked by this subject of the will of God.

If we approach the problem in this way we will never come to a satisfying answer. We are starting out on the wrong foot when we come at it in that way. I speak out of years of frustration, during which I attempted to find the will of God by just such a manner. This is the case with many of the questions that confuse us about the Christian life. So frequently, we are approaching it in the wrong way. For the will of God is not a program, it is a relationship. It is not what you do, it is what you are. It is not primarily a question of guidance (that is a part of it, admittedly, but it is a very minor part); it is really a question of acceptance.

It is obvious that whatever sanctification may or may not mean, it has to do with what we are more than what we do. The word sanctification comes from the same root word from which we get our word holy. What do we mean when we say a thing is holy? We call the Bible, the Holy Bible. What makes it holy? The land of Israel is called, the Holy land, and the city of Jerusalem is called, the Holy City. Why? They all belong to God. The Bible is God's book; Israel is God's land; Jerusalem is God's city — they are God's property! That is why they are holy, because they belong to God. Perhaps one of the most helpful ways of expressing the will of God is to put it in that practical way: It is God's will that you should be sanctified; that you become God's property.

Father, thank you for these mighty truths, to know that all the glory and the beauty of life as God intended it to be may be fulfilled in me, as I fulfill your will and become your property.