How many of us know what we are going to face going into 2022? All of us certainly have personal questions going into the new year. Most likely, some of our decisions will change the course of our lives significantly. The decision might be whether to relocate to another city. Some might make a significant financial decision. It might be a decision on dating and marriage. Processing these decisions can be paralyzing. The question we should consider is whether the Bible speak to any of these concerns.
“Finding God’s will” often comes up when people are trying to make difficult decisions. God certainly gives us help in finding His will while making decisions in our lives. He does not want us to be in the dark, wandering about with no purpose. Scripture tells us, “His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3, CSB).
In processing a particular decision, it helps to think through God’s revealed will and His concealed will. God’s revealed will tells us how He wants us to live, according to the Scriptures. We do not have to pray about it or walk around looking for it. God’s revealed will is written down for us in these sixty-six books. God’s concealed will, which lies outside of Scripture, is where the decision-making process can overwhelm. Parts of God’s will are simply beyond our awareness, since His ways are not our ways (Isa. 55:8–9).
Think through how this framework applies to a specific decision related to working. God’s revealed will has much to help us. Scripture tells us not to be lazy (Prov. 20:4; 2 Thess. 3:10–11). We should desire to provide for our families and work. But the specific career path we follow and how we prepare for it falls under God’s concealed will.
Start with God’s Revealed Will Found in the Scriptures
Often, our tendency is to focus on God’s concealed will when we are facing a difficult decision. However, it is always best to start with the things you know. And what you know is what God has told us in His Word. First, we must trust the Scriptures as authoritative in our lives. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.” We must align our lives and decisions under the authority of the Scriptures. We can see the testimony of Jesus resting in the sufficiency and authority of the Scriptures. Jesus emphasized the importance of every word in the Scriptures (Mk. 12:24–27). Jesus also saw God as the ultimate source of Scripture and the Holy Spirit as the ultimate author (Mt. 15:4; 22:43).
After resting in the inspired Word as our foundation, we must let God’s Word guide our lives. We can see an example of this in Acts 1, after Jesus ascended into heaven. The disciples were left waiting and praying while needing to make a decision about how to fill the office of an apostle. Judas had betrayed Jesus and died, so the disciples needed someone to replace him. During this decision-making process, Peter references Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8 as a guide for their thinking. Furthermore, Jesus also placed Himself under the authority of the Old Testament when He obeyed it as God’s Word (Mt. 4:4, 7, 10; Lk. 24:25–26).
We are too prone to bend our interpretation of Scripture to fit our circumstances rather than the other way around. A believer cannot accept the authority of Scripture without accepting the Word as God’s authoritative revelation.
Look for God’s Concealed Will through the Scriptures
While Scripture serves as our foundation in the decision-making process, questions may remain that are not directly addressed by God’s revealed will. In these situations, we should work to gather all the information we can about the decision at hand. Going back to our previous example when the disciples needed to find another apostle, they brought forth two candidates to fill this office. They presented two people and prayed. In the same way, think about the decision before you and pray. Seek counsel from others who you trust who have made similar decisions.
Prayer is essential for finding the concealed will of God. Prayer is not necessarily a means of getting extra communication from God but rather a means to draw us closer to Him. Prayer should not be used as a means to get God to bend to our will. Those who seem to think that God can be coerced through prayer, whether for material or financial gain, seem to assume He is reluctant to bless or completely unaware of our needs. As mentioned before, we mistakenly are too prone to let our lives interpret Scripture.
With Scripture serving as the foundation, prayer changes our internal perspective on God’s will. As David Jones writes, “Such fellowship in prayer, accompanied by personal reflection, can lead to a deeper knowledge of Scripture, the eyes of one’s heart being enlightened (see Eph. 1:18), greater confidence in God’s Word, as well as a better overall understanding of how biblical truth applies to one’s life.”[1] Prayer is intrinsically good, even apart from the answers we may receive in our decision-making. Having this correct posture towards prayer allows us to rest in the promise God that is willing, aware, and able to guide us in our decision-making.
Conclusion
God is not someone who just winds up the world like a clock and leaves it to run by itself. He is still immanently active in the world. He is still sustaining and preserving life. He is still governing, ruling, and directing all things in service to His redemptive plan. And He delights in using those He has made in His image to take part in this redemptive plan. He loves His creation to the point that He has revealed Himself through the written Word. It is here, in His revealed will, where believers are instructed to avoid fretting over the secret will of God. Instead, Jesus encourages His followers to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you” (Mt. 6:33). Perhaps the best way forward in decision-making is to make contributions based on Scripture that foster human flourishing in any sphere of life because that is what our Lord instructs.
[1] David W. Jones, Knowing and Doing the Will of God (Wake Forest: Veritas, 2017), 69.
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