Quick Thoughts on God's Will

One way of thinking about it that has helped me is the idea that God wants to partner with us human beings (especially His own people). The Bible describes God as working in and through human beings as much as possible. Take a look and you’ll see that if there’s a way of doing something that includes humanity’s involvement, He will go that way instead of doing it purely by Himself. God could have rescued the Israelites from Egypt without Moses and could have done a better job of everything without the inclusion of a faulty priesthood. God could have just ruled the world without human participation, and even the final judgment will be done by the Man Christ Jesus.

God seems to have resolved to work through humans, our choices, agency and volition whenever possible, even when it can make Him look bad or “hinder” His intentions. This being true, as one of His people, who is guided by His Spirit, you can make real choices, and meaningful choices that don’t require you to directly ask God for direction, while still fully trusting and having faith in Him.

To build on that, we are only really responsible for what God has told us and revealed to us in the Bible (Deuteronomy 29:29). Anything specific outside of what the Scripture has for us is really up to us! So when it comes to your job or your schooling or other life goals, you are free to decide whatever you want, and God will generally back you up. In other words, there’s not really a single “path” that God wants you to go in life where if you don’t you’d be going against God’s will or end up ruining things.

God has already told us what he requires of us: the Great Commandment - to love God and to love others. And God has already told us how we can typically learn how to do so - by learning of God’s nature, character and wisdom and seeing how God lives out the Great Commandment in His life.

You don’t need to wait for an answer. But you do need to use the tools that God has given you to make good and wise decisions that creatively demonstrate love for God and love for others in your life. So if you have a choice (like between Career A and Career B), remember what God wants of you in life (to love God and to love others), remember you have own your talents, interests and unique life that makes you different from everyone else (so your story will not look like everyone else’s), and using the wisdom you’ve learned from God and from relying on the Spirit make a choice..

Within that framework, there are no “wrong” answers. There may be paths in life that require more work, or have more hardship hidden inside, but struggle doesn’t mean you’re not in God’s will either.