Keith's Korner March, 2011
How Do YOU Know?
James 4:13-15 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”
OK, most of us are painfully aware of how little we really do know and how little is under our control, but HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT GOD IS OFFERING AND CALLING YOU TO BE AND DO?
There are a lot of helpful little formulas for discerning God’s will such as Ask, seek, knock or Pray, Press, Peace or watch for open doors. They can be helpful but also deadly. It’s easy to use the first two to get our-selves excited about something and manufacture a feeling of our preference or prejudice being the right thing. You can also follow open doors like a deer right through a nice, open, easy trail cut in the woods to a nice pile of corn thanking God for the open doors to the meal He’s about to provide for you while a hunter takes aim at your heart.
Those can be useful formulas to help you discern, but they aren’t the final word or the key to the best decisions. Over the years I’ve come to realize that discerning God’s will is an art, not a formula.
Here’s what I’ve found to be the way to make the best decisions.
John 17:7 Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know. First, decide if you really are open to whatever is the best workable decision or if you have preconditions or agendas influencing where you’re willing to go.
Proverbs 11:14 & 24:6 Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety…by wise guidance you can wage your war and in abundance of counselors there is victory. Gather information and insights – especially from those who effectively disagree with you. They may very well be God’s gift to help polish a rough stone into a beautiful gem and, if not, at least they’ve had a chance to be heard and dealt with and you won’t be legitimately criticized for being closed minded.
Once that is done we still have to prayerfully discern. Group think alone is not enough. Some Biblical examples of blind, leaderless Group-Think have been a Golden Calf leading to the death of thousands, NOT entering the Promised Land, taking in the Gibbeonites leading to a war and later death of seven princes of Israel and the crucifixion of Jesus.
John 15:4 Abide in Me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. Stay connected and used to being led, so it can come more naturally when it really matters – especially those times when you have no clue that it really matters.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. 6In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. Use, but don’t totally rely totally on your own insight. Look for and acknowledge the Lord’s leading – even if it’s toward something you want no part of.
Then, as you seek the best workable approach while you abide in Christ, draw on both the wisdom and supposed “foolishness” of others, take your own wisdom with a grain of salt trusting God to lead you – even in spite of yourself or ourselves at times – stay alert and expectant that God WILL lead you and that you may even be able to sense it as you go. Isaiah 30:21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Sometimes no news is good news. If you’re on track you don’t need God’s constant reassurance or nagging, but you do need to know when you’re significantly off course and if you are wanting His best and you are abiding and truly seeking His will He’ll let you know, if you’re ready to hear.
The decisions before u will not always be obvious or easy, none of us is ever totally infallible, we are never fully understood or appreciated, but God promises to guide us into His best in His time and way IF WE’RE WILLING AND OPEN.
In the days and decisions ahead let’s give it our best in Christ and let Him guide us by:
1. Being aware of how limited and fallible we are
2. Being willing – even eager for His will above all else
3. Seeking wisdom beyond ourselves – allow God to speak through all of His co-workers and servants
4. Praying for discernment for ourselves and the leaders we are called to support
5. Drawing on, but not exclusively relying on, the understandings we have at the moment
6. Staying open to and expecting some supernatural “course corrections” along the way
