On this journey called life, one of the crucial common questions all of us ask is: “Is this God’s will?” I do know I even have asked this countless times. God’s will and plan for us can sometimes seem as unclear and vague because the supposed animal that my kid sees within the clouds.
The excellent news is that God doesn’t want us to be so confused or left at nighttime about his will. The bad news, nonetheless, is that he rarely reveals his will to us as clearly as we would really like. This leaves us often asking childlike questions like we’re kids within the back seat: Are we there yet? Where are we going? How long will it take to get there? Are you listening to me? Can we stop here?
This query of God’s will jogs my memory of the youngsters of Israel in Exodus after they were wandering through the desert. In order to make his path known to them, we read in Exodus 13:21-22 that:
“And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to guide them along the best way, and by night in a pillar of fireside to offer them light, that they may travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fireside by night didn’t depart from before the people.”
That sounds great, doesn’t it? The indisputable fact that God would give his people a direction was so obvious in the shape of a cloud in the course of the day and a hearth at night. And while that was helpful initially for the Israelites, we’d like to acknowledge the inherent difficulties with that plan. For example, there would have been times when there was multiple cloud within the sky or one fire visible at night – so that they (or a minimum of their leaders) had to remain vigilant and keep their eyes glued on the correct marker. Another even greater difficulty with that plan for the Israelites was that simply because they might see which strategy to go didn’t mean the best way was easy! God’s plan for them involved an extended, dangerous, sandy journey that usually left them hungry, thirsty, and scared. Not only that, but it surely led them straight through the Red Sea – which might have seemed unimaginable!
Thankfully, though, wherever God leads us, he at all times makes a way.
So, once we read Jesus’s words in Matthew 6:33 about searching for him and his righteousness first in our lives, we are able to make sure that regardless of how difficult our journey could also be, we are able to at all times trust that God will get us to where he wants us to go.
But as we consider the various stories throughout Scripture of God’s people trying to search out out and follow his will, listed here are 4 questions that may help us determine what direction God wants us to take.
Photo Credit: © Getty Images/jacoblund
