SEEKING GOD’S WILL
While chewing the cud from pastor Jacob’s recent message on Seeking God’s Will [1] I couldn’t help but reflect on when I had to discern His will throughout various junctures of my life. I had a lot of time to think on the road as my family and I ventured down to Perdido Key for vacation. As I contemplate God’s goodness to me over the years and how He has guided me every step of the way (even through much of my stubbornness and ignorance!) I couldn’t help but respond in an attitude of praise. It’s a sweet thing to recall His faithful involvement and care toward me when I needed divine direction.
If you recall from Sunday’s sermon, God’s will is revealed in various ways such as circumstances and wise counsel; but it’s primarily made known through His Word.
Sometimes the Bible seems silent on issues we desire wisdom on. I once searched through Scripture to see what God’s will is for dating. But I quickly came to realize dating as we know it today wasn’t really a thing back in biblical times. In fact, they had arranged marriages… and crazy enough, the statistics show they worked out a lot better than the way we choose spouses today! So while I found nothing pertaining specifically to dating in the Bible, I did compile a list of Biblical principles for dating. That list of guardrails contained things like:
I will never be alone with my girlfriend in a private place
Prov. 6:18 – [2 of 6 things the LORD hates are] “a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil”
Prov. 6:27 – “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?”
2 Tim. 2:22 – “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”
I will never do anything with my girlfriend in private that I wouldn’t do in front of her parents
Ecc. 12:14 – “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
I will strive for complete purity in this relationship
Eph. 5:3 – But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.
1 Thess. 4:3-8 – “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”
I won’t say “I love you” until she has agreed to be my wife (and I agree to be her husband).
Prov. 4:23 – Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
You get the idea. Even though technically the Bible never contains the word “dating”, it does provide principles to live by. It is in obedience to these principles that lead us down the paths of righteousness, closer to the Righteous One, and henceforth more connected with His good and pleasing purpose for your life. As Romans 12:1-2 tells us,
“1Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”
It is the deep, rich mercy of God Almighty that implores us to sacrificially obey His commands. Doing this is the ticket to discovering His good, pleasing, and perfect will. The first time I asked out Christian (my wife now), she told me that I had to ask her mom and dad. I asked them and presented them with these biblical principles for dating – my standards for how I was going to treat Christian. It took her dad a week to get back to me but he eventually approved. Fast-forward to nearly two years later, about the time I knew for sure I wanted to marry Christian (but before I proposed to her). While she was out of the country on a mission trip to Haiti, I took the opportunity to invite her parents out to dinner. It was to ask them for their blessing on us getting married. I had with me, in a manilla envelope, the very same biblical principles for dating I had sent to them a couple years prior. I told them we had kept them to the best we knew how, and I went on to explain how I wanted to continue loving Christian, providing for her, and steering her toward godliness. With tears they both ultimately concurred.
My point is this: It was God’s Word that has and continues to guide and guard both Christian and I throughout each season of our lives. Obedience to the Word has definitely been good for us, pleasing to us, and perfect for us (though we most definitely are not perfect). The more I read, study, memorize, and meditate on the Word of Truth, the more clearly God’s will unfolds in my life. And I know Scripture will do the same for you as you seek to determine God’s will for your life and future too.
Additional Resource
If you want another good resource on this topic of discerning God’s will, check out the short, yet worthwhile book called Knowing and Doing the Will of God [2]. In it, author David Jones asserts that God’s will has two parts: His sovereign will and His moral will. He does not subscribe to the contemporary trichotomy of His sovereign will, moral will, and His individual will (essentially the notion that God has tailor-made a will for every individual). Jones contends that the individual will for our lives is revealed in both God’s sovereign and moral law. His entire premise is that the Bible is “sufficient for Christian life and practice.”(pp. iii). As he puts it, “Early Christians never focused on figuring out God’s will, but instead they focused on following His will as revealed in His Word” (pp. iii. 9, 119).
[1] Jacob Haywood, Seeking God’s Will (Acts 1:12-26), July 2, 2023 | FBC Portland
[2] David Jones, Knowing and Doing the Will of God. Veritas Publications. Wake Forest, NC (9, 119).
