Finding God's Will? Pt 6
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Inform Yourself
Inform Yourself
In order to discern God’s leading we should seek to gain as much information as possible about the situation.
The Bible is full of examples and principles that merge God’s will with adequately-informed judgment. Examples?
A person who makes a pronouncement without listening to the facts is a fool.
Ignorance is never a virtue in finding God’s direction. God does not usually lead in a vacuum. He uses factors to create in us an impression of what His direction might be.
The more attention we pay to these factors, the more likely we are to understand what God wishes us to do. One of the most important facts is information. By learning all that we can about our decision, we are giving God something to work with as He leads.
Consider a man who is contemplating a promotion or a new job that will require him to move to a distant city. What information should he seek to gather?
What will his new responsibilities entail?
Who will he be working with?
Learn all he can about the city (opportunities and problems)
Search in advance for churches in that city (visit them if possible and talk to their pastors)
How will his new co-workers perceive him?
How does his wife fell about the move?
His children?
How people feel is an important part of the decision
What rule should we follow for gathering information? Is there a set list for every circumstance?
We must gain as much relevant information as possible before the choice has been made.
Informing yourself is necessary if you intend to exercise due diligence when making decisions.
What about Christian leaders that dismiss the exercise of due diligence by denouncing it as “human wisdom”?
28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
Too many Christian leaders have wrecked ministries—and people’s lives—because they did not bother to inform themselves before announcing it to be “God’s will.”
What about people who refuse to gather information and make decisions blindly claiming, “I’m living by faith”?
Too many people have said, “I’m living by faith,” when what they meant was “I’m following an impulse and doing it blindly.”
Illustration: I was criticized for not building the new auditorium sooner. I was not stepping out in faith.
Ignorance is not faith. Ignorance does not foster faith. Ignorance is not a substitute for faith. Ignorance is never a virtue. Instead, information is a tool that the faithful use whenever possible while seeking God’s direction.
21 And behold, I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, take them,’ then you are to come, for, as the Lord lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger.
22 But if I say to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the Lord has sent you away.
David trusted God to deliver him from Saul, but he also trusted the information that Jonathan brought him.
God places us in positions in which we have to make choices. In those choices He certainly knows what direction is best for us, but He does not simply tell us what to do. Instead, He uses those decisions as opportunities to grow us in maturity and wisdom.
Maturity and wisdom involve the capacity for sound judgment. For that reason, seeking God’s leading usually requires the exercise of sound judgment. The simple truth is that informed judgement are usually sounder that uninformed ones.
Do you want God’s will? If you are already yielded to Him, obeying Him, fulfilling your duties to the best of your ability, and praying about your choice, then the next thing you need to do is to inform yourself. The information you gain may be exactly the instrument that God uses to disclose His direction in your life.
Application questions:
What sort of information might you need to make a choice about a career? About purchasing a home? About choosing a spouse? About choosing a church?
What sort of information should a church have before deciding to relocate or build a building? Before deciding to start a school? Before deciding to call a pastor?
How could you legitimately gain the information that you need for the above choices?
Seek Godly Counsel
Seek Godly Counsel
Does God know exactly the choices that will bring the greatest good into your life?
Does it always seem that way?
“Sometimes the choices God has for us do not result in the greatest apparent good, especially in the short run.” Explain?
God knows who He wants you to be, and He knows which choices will bring you that goal.
Is God able to lead us into making those choices? Verse?
6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
In what ways did God direct people’s paths in the Bible?
Special revelation. Does God direct our paths through special revelation? Sometimes, when the Bible specifically speaks to the choice we must make.
Can God direct us in non-revelatory ways as well? What kind?
One of the ways God leads us to right choices is through godly counsel.
14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
What Solomon says about nations is also true of individuals: without guidance we are in danger, but deliverance can be found in the abundance of counselors.
22 Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.
Proverbs also reaches us that where people fail to seek counsel their plans are often frustrated, but counsel from multiple sources helps make good plans.
18 Plans are established by counsel; by wise guidance wage war.
Good counsel results in workable plans.
6 for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
Relying upon many counselors results in safety.
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
NOT seeking counsel is the mark of a fool!
Does God want us to seek counsel when we make decisions?
What kind of decisions can we make without counsel? Red tie or the blue one? (some husbands need good counsel from their wives in this area!). We may not need counsel for ordinary, mundane choices.
When it comes to the big choices we should not make a decision without gaining counsel.
If we want to get any help from counsel, we need to choose wise and careful counselors.
What can happen when we receive bad counsel?
13 And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him,
14 he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
Bad counsel caused disaster in the life of Rehoboam!
We should not expect to receive good counsel from people who are only going to tell us what we want to hear.
We should also beware of counselors who only tell us what THEY want us to hear.
What is the danger in that? A pastor may be tempted to give counsel that only helps the church or himself personally!
However, if a pastor know his people, his God, and his Bible, he ought to be in a position to offer sound counsel.
Does good counsel involve telling people what they ought to do? Should you make people’s decisions for them?
When is the only appropriate time to tell people what is God’s will for their lives?
When a clear biblical requirement is at stake.
What is the main responsibility of giving good counsel?
To help people think through the decisions that they must make. We should guide people through the various considerations that ought to inform their decision.
What are the various considerations that we should point out to help people make their decision?
Biblical principles
Any circumstances that could affect their choice
Help people understand their own personal giftedness, abilities, and proclivities that might shape their decisions
In short, good counselors will play a supporting role, assisting people to exercise wisely their prerogatives as believer-priests before the Lord.
Counsel does not usually consist in telling other people what to do. Why not?
Only very immature people need or want to have decisions handed to them. Mature people should wish to make their own choices, and they should exercise sound judgement when they do.
Offering counsel is a matter of helping them to be sure that they have weighed every necessary consideration before making their choice.
When Proverbs speaks of a “multitude” of counselors, what kind of people should you seek counsel from?
People with knowledge, expertise, or insight into the kind of decision your’re making.
They should be people who know you. Why?
They should also be people with experience, often older, who have done lots of living and have shown that they know how to make good decisions.
Who are the best counselors for married people? Their spouse. Why?
Our spouses know us like no one else does. They usually understand our choices in greater detail than any other.
Can anyone speak from experience in this area? My wife is my wisest counselor. Her insights have helped me time and time again in making good decisions.
I would not dream of making a major decision without discussing it with her first. How is this different from the normal behavior of unsaved or immature husbands?
I also would not make a decision she was convinced was wrong. The process of home-shaping decisions is and ought to be shared.
Some Christian husbands might be tempted to think that sharing household decisions with their wife could violate marital submission (Eph. 5:22-24, 33).
It does not. Rather, for a husband to ensure that his wife has a voice in those decisions is one of the ways in which he implements the love that he owes to his wife (Eph. 5:25-33).
Even a wife who is by nature deferential needs to be involved in the decisions that affect her future, and a loving husband will make sure she is.
A husband who fails to solicit his wife’s counsel, or one who neglects or ignores it when it is offered, is simply a fool!
15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.
However, the same thing can be said of wives who neglect their husband’s counsel!
Besides spouses, parents often make the best counselors. Believing parents are best. The ones who know the Lord and the Bible well are some of the best counselors in the world!
True friends also make wonderful counselors. What makes a true friend?
5 Better is open rebuke than hidden love.
Someone who is willing to wound you when necessary.
Pastors, spouses, parents, or friends cannot counsel you by make decisions for you. What they can do is to make sure you’ve examined every legitimate factor that ought to affect your decision. They can point out any considerations that you may have neglected. They can talk with you, pray for you, and help you to weigh the various elements that affect your decision.
On rare occasions we may be confronted with decisions that must be made in isolation. Under normal circumstances, however, we ought to surround ourselves with as many wise counselors as we can. We should talk to them freely, hear them fully, and weigh their counsel carefully. Our counselors cannot take responsibility for our decisions, but they can help us to find God’s leading.
Application Questions:
Who are the first three people whom you might ask for counsel in your most important decisions? Why these three?
Have you ever made a decision for which you did not seek counsel but later wished you had?
Can you envision any important decision for which you might not seek counsel? Why not?