Knowing God's Will

"Everything lined up so perfectly it had to be God's will."  "The details came together so easily I knew it was God's will."

Maybe you have heard people say these type of things.  Maybe you have thought these things yourself.  I know, from my own life experiences, that God sometimes uses circumstances to communicate his will.  I have seen so many people make poor decisions because they only listened to circumstances.  I have seen people follow the easy path only to find out after it was to late that it was not so easy.  Rather it was filled with heartache, frustration, and pain.

The question is "Does the road being smooth and easy always indicate God's will?'  When I look at examples from the Bible, I see a pattern of God's will not being the easy road.  Moses, the prophets, David, the apostles, Paul, and even Jesus, all had rough roads to travel.  They experienced trials, loss of friends and family, hunger, thirst, persecution, and other hardships.  Jesus even prayed, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me."  In other words, if there is an easier path other than the road to Calvary I choose that.

Paul embraced the hard road.  "So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God" (2 Timothy 1:8 NIV).

There are several things that we can do to better know God's will.  I will give you three.

1st.  Spend time with God.  I am not talking about a religious activity that you just check off of a to-do list.  I am talking about spending one on one time with Him away from distractions.  God will never contradict what He has already said in his word.

2nd. Spend time with people who are also doing step 1.  Seek wise counsel from multiple sources when making a decision.  The bigger the decision, the more counsel you should get.

3rd.  Balance the circumstances with the other two steps.  Circumstances can be a good indicator of God's will.  Just don't be seduced by the easy road.  It might not be that easy.  

For more on God's will read To Be or Not To Be

Have you ever chosen the easy road and later found out it was not that easy?

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