Some teachers at a Christian college expressed surprise that many students expected to find God’s will for their individual lives — in selecting a mate, choosing a career, deciding where to live. “Where does this type of thinking come from?” one asked.
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Perhaps it comes from the Bible, I respectfully submit. As believers, we can say with David, “He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Ps. 23:3). God still promises his people, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Ps. 32:8). It is still scriptural advice to say: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths (Prov. 3:5-6).
Too many of us have been at times like Jesus’ description of the Saduccees — “knowing neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” The fact is that God is alive, real, active and eager to guide our lives according to his own good will. This does not mean that God’s will is like a needle in a haystack — very difficult to find, easy to miss. God guides us in many ways, one step at a time, as I illustrate in my own book The Sound of His Voice.
The problem with most of us in the affluent and scientific West is that too often we expect (and therefore receive) nothing that we cannot plan, predict, control and produce for ourselves. May God deliver us from such practical (if not theoretical) unbelief, and replace it with the delightful experience of knowing him as our faithful Creator, Father and Savior.