There is a common struggle among Christians who want to know God's will for their life. Rightly understood and pursued, this is a great thing. Wanting to do whatever God would have us do, and to sift out of that any measure of sinful desire is beautiful, it is seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. When we are seeking this well, that is--by faith, it will help us and keep us moving forward. But often we hang up at this point and become paralyzed by uncertainty and filled with anxiety. What is going on here?
I think part of what hangs us up in the desire to "know God's will" is a desire to control the future, to know and determine it exhaustively, to insist on making choices based on all the possible information. But this is not how we were created, and it is to agitate against our creatureliness. We don't have all the information; we were not meant to have all the information. We are given all the information we need, and we have a Father in heaven who loves us and promises to guide us and go with us. He delights to call us to walk by faith in him, to trust that we are in his hand.
God called Abraham to go to a place that he would show him. He told him to leave everything he knew to go to a place as yet undisclosed. Where am I going? What will the provisions be like? Will there be enemies? Don't I need a pro and con list? You have all the information you need. Trust me, and go.
God called Abraham to sacrifice his son, the one he had already promised to use to make Abraham into a great nation. How will that happen if Isaac is dead? You have all the information you need. Trust me, and go.
How did Abraham know it was God's voice? That is a good question. Jesus tells us that his sheep know him and they hear his voice, and they follow him, and they will not follow another. The question is crippling in the abstract (how might I know), but when the time is right, you know.
Walking by faith in God, moving forward even when we don't know for sure, is part of what it means to seek his kingdom and righteousness. God is an active part of the story. He doesn't call, and send, and then not accompany. If you check your heart, and by his grace you set yourself to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, you should not worry that he will abandon you along the way. You have a promise that when you seek his kingdom and righteousness first, he will take care of the details. Your Father knows that you need these things. Is he the kind of Father who would send you on an errand and not supply you with what you need? Is the the kind of Father who is able to make people's sandals not wear out during long treks through the desert? Is he the kind of Father who withholds good things from you? What has he given you already?
Following God by faith means passionately pursuing future possibilities with an excited realization that God could decisively change our course at any time. We don't see everything, but he does. We want to see everything and then act. He wants us to realize that he sees everything and trust him. All of this adds excitement, wonder, and mystery to our story. I don't know what is around the next corner, and that creates dramatic tension. It could be a chest of gold, or it could be a dragon. It could be a smooth section of path through a quiet glade, or it could be a dangerous, rocky ascent. This shouldn't make me sit down and look for a map that I know I don't have. I should feel my heart thump, feel the blood course through my veins, say a prayer, and walk forward.
The price of this excitement, wonder, and mystery; what we have to give up in order to embrace it, is control and a demand for exhaustive knowledge which we can never have. Not a bad trade.
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