Last Sunday during the Young People’s Fellowship we talked about the will of God.  As I spoke I could see my students straining to stretch their minds to understand the concept of the will of God.  I could tell that my students want to know God’s will for their life and they also want to obey God’s will.  The only difficulty they have is knowing how to discern it.

I received a book in the mail today: it was authored by Dr. Adrian Rogers and it is entitled What Every Christian Ought to Know.  As I had just received it today, I had not yet read the book through.  I did stumble upon the section on discerning the will of God and I will share it with you.  Pastor Rogers says: if you are a Christian then your great desire should be to know the will of God; your great delight is to do God’s will; and the great danger is to refuse God’s will.  Pastor Rogers says that there are six myths about the will of God:

1. The Map Myth – God will not give you a map for His will for you.  God wants to form a relationship with you.  The relationship is characterized by trust and obedience.  It is best illustrated by Israel’s experience in the wilderness.  God manifested His presence by the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day.  All the Israelites had to do was to follow the pillar of fire and the cloud; and to trust that God will lead them.
2. The Misery Myth –Most people think that doing the will of God will make them miserable for the rest of their lives.  They are afraid that God is mean or that He has a mean sense of humor.
3. The Missionary Myth – People think that finding God’s will and doing God’s will is only for those people who have surrendered their lives to become missionaries or pastors.  God’s will encompasses all of human history and all of human kind but it is also specific for each individual Christian.
4. The Miracle Myth – You don’t need an earth-shaking experience to know the will of God.  Elijah was commanded by God to stand in the mouth of a cave.  A great strong wind tore the mountain but God was not in the wind.  An earthquake shook the mountain but God was not in the earthquake.  Fire raged before Elijah but God was not in the fire.  God was in the still small voice.  God’s will and the knowledge of God’s will comes in a still small voice.
5. The Missed it Myth – Most people think that God’s will is like a train ride.  If you don’t get on the train at the right station, you can’t find the will of God or obey it. It is never too late to find God’s will.  It is never too late to obey God’s will. Remember Jonah?  He disobeyed God first before he obeyed.  He spent three days and three nights in the whale’s belly before he finally went and preached God’s message to Nineveh.
6. The Mystery Myth – God’s will is not a mystery.  God is willing to reveal it and He is willing to guide you to accomplish his will for your life if you are willing to surrender to God’s will and obey it.

Knowing God’s will is a matter of a close intimate relationship with God.  Obeying God’s will is a matter of trusting God and trusting that He knows what He is doing.  Obeying God’s will means trusting that God’s plan for you is best for you. God’s will does not mean that all will be happy, smooth and easy going. God will not lead you where His hand cannot keep you.  God’s will is not only doing what God wants us to do; it is also becoming the person God wants us to be. Part of God’s will is shaping and molding our character so that we will become more and more like Jesus Christ.

More next week….