Finding God's Will? Pt 10

Account For Your Inclinations

Some Christians think that ignoring circumstances is a mark of spirituality. The Bible, however, never rebukes us for taking circumstances into account.

When is the only time Christians ought to turn their backs upon circumstances? When we possess direct, divine revelation.

Some Christians also criticize another factor that helps us to find God’s leading. Considering our inclinations. What does that mean?

When we are trying to discern the Lord’s direction, we should also consider our inclinations. We should ask, “What would I really like to do?”

Too often, what do we assume following God’s leading will feel and look like in our lives?

We assume it will be an ugly, repugnant thing that we would prefer to avoid if possible.

Of course, God sometimes leads us into difficult places.

Would Jeremiah have chosen to be thrown into a well?

Would Daniel have chose to be placed in a lion’s den?

In those cases, however, obedience to God’s revealed will clearly at stake.

When God directs us into unpleasant circumstances, He usually does it in ways that are unmistakable and even unavoidable.

However, God does not usually lead us in ways that thwart our inclinations. In fact, Jesus promised rest for our souls. He told us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Matthew 11:28–30 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

David taught that when we delight in the Lord, He gives us the desires of our hearts.

Psalm 37:4 ESV

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

God typically leads us to want the things that He wants to give us. Normally, doing God’s will is a joy, something that we can look forward to with cheerful anticipation.

Now, contrast these biblical ideas of God’s leading with the phrase, “I surrendered to the Lord’s will.”

What does the phrase “I surrendered to the Lord’s will” imply about following God’s will?

It makes it sound as if the only way that God can get us to obey is to batter us until we surrender to Him in defeat.

This kind of thing can happen, but is it the normal experience for the Christians?

Why not?

Is God capable of shaping our desires? Scripture?

Philippians 2:13 ESV

13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:13 HCSB

13 For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.

So if God is capable of shaping our desires, would it seem reasonable to think that He will incline us to want what He wants for us? The answer is an obvious yes, yet some Christians seem to assume that God that works in the exact opposite way.

Yet, God prepares us for what He wants us to do. He equips us for the things to which He calls us.

If we are seeking Him and delighting in Him, He inclines us toward the things that He sees as our greatest good. We should expect to find ourselves wanting the kind of things that God wants for us.

Sometimes we might be afraid of situations that God is directing us towards. Why?

Simply because we have never experienced them and they seem intimidating to us. Facing challenges like that is part of maturing. It is also part of finding God’s leading. Once we try the things that we fear, we often discover that they delight us—provided that we don’t close ourselves off to that possibility.

If we are willing to experience the unfamiliar, God will use those experiences to create new loves within us. He may then use those loves to lead us.

Examples: People that love the cold God may send to the Midwest, people that love the heat, God may be preparing to send to Arizona.

I love small town Wisconsin. I love fishing and hunting. God, for now, has allowed me to live and serve Him here. I love being near family, etc…

No lie of the devil has been more effective than the notion that God’s will is some ugly, horrible thing that we would never really want to choose.

Think about it: would a kind and gracious God really treat us that way? Would He make His will a punitive thing? Doesn’t it make sense that He would create in us the desire to do the kind of thing He wants us to do?

Example: when I was a kid my best friend’s mom told me that I would make a good minister one day. At the time I laughed at the thought. But, over the years God changed my heart and my desires so that it is exactly what I want to do. I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Please don’t misunderstand: I am not suggesting that sadness and hardships are never God’s will. Just read Hebrews 11:35-40. The author speaks of faithful people who endured lack of shelter, food, clothing, mocking, beating, imprisonment, torture, and death.

When the will of God is hard and unpleasant, however, it usually arrives in ways that leave us no choice. Either God brings us directly unto difficult conditions, or else He confronts us with choices that involve clear biblical principles. Under those circumstances God has already made His will known in Scripture. And we can trust Him that even in those situations He is always working things out for our good and His glory.

I am talking about times when we really do have to make a choice and we don’t know what is should be. We are seeking God’s leading. Under those conditions, one of the things that we should consider is our own inclinations and desires. These may well be among the components that God uses to lead us while we follow Him.

Application Questions:

Are there times when God’s will appears unpleasant to you? Why do you suppose it seems that way?

Can you think of legitimate pursuits that you wish were God’s will for you but that you don’t believer are? What makes you thing they are not?

Why would people think that God’s leading has to be unpleasant?

Your Sense of Vocation

In the previous lesson we suggested that God leads by our inclinations. That is, God often prepares us to do His will by giving us a desire to do the kind of thing He wants us to do.

“Indeed, I believe that this is one of the most important principles in finding God’s direction—but it is also one of the most easily misunderstood.” —Kevin Bauder

Why do you think he would say this?

To avoid these misunderstandings concerning inclinations we are going to take another lesson to clarify this biblical principle. To do this we are going to consider the notion of our calling or vocation.

By the words vocation and calling we are talking about something like station in life.

Every person occupies several stations in life: she or he holds a variety of callings.

Examples:

Being married is a calling, and so is being single.

Parenthood is a calling.

Your age, sex, ethnicity, and social standing are part of your calling.

How do we normally hear the word “calling” used of someone? “Call to ministry”

For Christians every station in life is a calling that is honorable and is a means to bring glory to God.

1 Corinthians 7:17–23 ESV

17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. 18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. 20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. 21 Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) 22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men.

Every vocation and all other parts of our lives (hobbies, free time, etc..) can and should be used as a ministry.

Fishing is a station in life that God in his providence may have both gifted you in and given you a love for. Fishing should be used to put on display your salvation to others and to bring God glory. It is an excellent opportunity to build relationships that open the door to share the gospel or to address other spiritual needs.

Quilting, pool, ping-pong, golf, shopping, going to coffee shops, exercise- all of these things are part of God’s calling on our life. A calling that first and foremost is about putting on display the glories of God’s grace.

However, for the remainder of our lesson we are going to focus on our vocation or calling that we often refer to as a career or life’s work.

How should we decide upon a life’s work?

Example: Giving the little kids Sprite instead of water. The contrast between what they expected and what they tasted was so great that they nearly spewed the liquid out of their mouths.

Sometimes, we believe that we will enjoy something because of what we expect from it. It looks appealing. When we actually try the thing, however, it fails to live up to our expectations. We are disappointed because what we thought we liked was an imagined idea of the thing, not the thing itself.

While our inclinations (our desires to do a thing) are an important key to discerning God’s leading, we must evaluate them rightly.

We must incline toward the thing as it is rather than toward the thing as we imagine it to be.

We can be drawn to vocations for wrong reasons as easily as my kids were drawn to the glass of Sprite for the wrong reason. What happens when the things do not live up to our expectations? We are disappointed.

Someone might be a good musician, they might even earn a masters degree or doctorate degree in music, and then find out that they hate teaching music.

Or the person who things they want to become a lawyer, but then finds out they hate working with the law.

Or the person who is kind and compassionate and things nursing will be a great career, but then they find out they cannot stand being around sick people.

In vocations as in Sprite, we don’t always actually enjoy what we thing we should enjoy.

Even worse, people sometimes choose a vocation not for itself but for the benefits that they believe it will confer. They don’t really like the work, in fact they might hate it, but they want the benefits of the job. They want the money, the social standing, the reputation, or the power that comes with the job.

A job that appeals to your pride, however, is not necessarily the same as a job that will appeal to you.

Choosing a calling for its perceived benefits may well lead to misery.

How can you tell whether your inclination is genuine and whether a particular vocation is yours?

1. Have you learned to work?

Why is this an important qualification? Every worthwhile calling takes hard work. Every job comes with moments of drudgery and with unpleasant tasks that you just have to muscle through.

You are not in a position to consider a calling unto you have learned to show up on time, respect structured authority, get along with you co-workers, avoid workplace intrigues, meet deadlines, and do an hour’s labor for an hour’s pay.

Master these skills first; worry about a vocation later.

2. What kind of work do you most like to do?

I did not say what kind of job you would like to have, but what kind of work you most like to do. What is the difference?

What kind of work are you passionate about? What would you do as a hobby, even if nobody ever recognized it or paid you to do it?

Do you enjoy manual tasks? Intellectual activity? Solving problems? Helping people? Building things? Creating art?

Learning what kind of work you most enjoy will help steer you away from false impressions about the kind of job you only thing you’d like. Your enjoyment and calling should go together.

3. What kind of work are you gifted for?

4. What kind of work is needed?

5. What kind of work are you qualified for?

6. What kind of work have you been confirmed into?

One more thing: Most vocations are not set in stone.

Application Questions:

Have you ever tried your hand at a task that you thought you’d enjoy, only to discover that it was not nearly as enjoyable as you’d imagined it would be? What was it, and why didn’t you enjoy it?

Have you ever had to engage in a task that you perceived as off-putting but discovered that you actually enjoy it? What was it, and what did you enjoy about it?

What jobs do you genuinely enjoy that contain elements you find tedious or repellent? How do you get yourself through the less enjoyable parts of the job?