Finding God's will for your life

Proverbs 3:5-6

Intro: A minister received a call from a church that offered him a salary four times what he was receiving. Being a devout man, he spent much time in prayer trying to discern what God wanted him to do. One day a friend met the minister’s young son on the street. “Do you know what your dad is going to do?” he asked. “Well,” replied the youngster, “Dad’s praying, but Mom’s packing!”

Most of us would agree that Knowing God’s will for our life is important when making big decisions, but I believe what is more important is living in God’s will at all times. I’m reminded of a prayer offered up at a meeting of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bobby Richardson, former New York Yankee second baseman, offered this prayer “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.”

How do we find God’s will for our lives, first we must define what is meant by God’s will. God has a purpose for each Christian and that purpose is to be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus but in that purpose is also a plan. God has a plan for your life, this simply means He has an intention or a blueprint for your life. Finding this plan and living in the center of it is what we will be discussing today.

Context: Solomon is speaking to his son Rehoboam telling him of the rewards of wisdom, encouraging him to yield his life to Christ. In this text through divine inspiration of God, Solomon tells his son of a conditional promise of God, If you rely on the Lord completely and recognize Him as Lord constantly you will find God’s will and yourself living in it.

CPS: In order to know and live in God’s will we must rely on Him completely and recognize Him as Lord of our life constantly.

I. We must completely rely on the Lord (5)

The Bible tells us that we must trust the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. Before we can move forward we must understand that part of God’s will for you is that you be saved. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 1 Timothy 2:4 tells us that (God) Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. The most basic element of God’s will for you is that you trust Him for salvation, He desires this for you so much that He personally established a plan so that you could be redeemed and set free from the bondage of sin and the wrath that follows. It sent Jesus from the the throne room of heaven to pay your ransom on Calvary’s Cross, and the only way to receive God’s salvation is by grace through faith. Faith means to believe to complete trust! Trusting Jesus as Savior is the first step towards knowing God’s will for your life, if you are not saved you are not in God’s will for your life.

The first condition Solomon gives his son is to rely completely on the Lord for all decisions. Life is full of decisions, salvation is the greatest, but what about all other decisions? Solomon tells his son to Trust in the Lord with all his heart. In this context there is a contrast between godly wisdom and wordly wisdom, and we are exhorted to rely on God’s wisdom. The word Trust in Hebrew is bā·ṭǎḥ which means rely on, put confidence in, i.e., believe in a person or object to the point of reliance upon. This word is used 9 times in Proverbs, listen to some of its uses.

Pro. 16:20 “He who gives attention to the word will find good, And blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.”

Pro. 28:25 “An arrogant man stirs up strife, But he who trusts in the Lord will prosper.”

Pro. 29:25 “The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.”

Trusting in the Lord is a key theme in Proverbs, but what does trusting the Lord look like? I recall a story about group of scientists and botanists who were exploring remote regions of the Alps in search of new species of flowers. One day they noticed through binoculars a flower of such rarity and beauty that its value to science was incalculable. But it lay deep in a ravine with cliffs on both sides. To get the flower someone had to be lowered over the cliff on a rope. A curious young boy was watching nearby, and the scientists told him they would pay him well if he would agree to be lowered over the cliff to retrieve the flower below. The boy took one long look down the steep, dizzy depths and said, “I’ll be back in a minute.” A short time later he returned, followed by a gray-haired man. Approaching the botanist, the boy said, “I’ll go over that cliff and get that flower for you if this man holds the rope. He’s my dad.” Trusting in the Lord is complete reliance upon the Lord as though all your weight is being laid upon a rope and at the end of the rope is God who is holding it.

We are commanded to rely upon the Lord “with all thine heart.” The word “ALL” means totality, everything… He is not speaking of that blood pumping organ beneath your breast, He is speaking of all your inner self. Implying that you trust him with your mind and your volition! This means to rely on the Lord with all your knowledge and will. The commitment of the heart to God means that all beliefs and decisions of life are to be submitted to Him!

Are we fully submitted to the Lord in all that we believe? Are we fully relying on God in all the decisions of life? Each day is made up of thousands of decisions, large and small but each are to be submit to God. Our tendency is to make our own choices, if we were to be completely honest with ourselves we would acknowledge our freedom to choose is our favorite blessing which God has been bestowed upon us.

But in our text we are told that we must trust God and lean not upon our own understanding. Understanding is the Hebrew word bî·nā which means discernment, knowledge, the ability to react to life situations. We are created as thinking beings and as thinking being we don’t have to leave all common sense at the door, however we are instructed to not only lean on our common sense. Lean is the Hebrew word shâʿan which means to support ones self, rest, or rely. It literally means to lean your whole wait to rest. Just like I’m leaning on this pulpit. Just like Samson, after we was bound and blinded asked the young boy to lead him to the pillars so that he may lean upon them. listen to Judges 16:26 “Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean (shâʿan) against them.” Samson had leaned upon his own wisdom and not the wisdom of God and now he leaned upon the pillars asking God to strengthen him just once more so that he may fulfill God’s will for his life, to defeat the Philistines. At his death that’s what took place. From a Nazerite to a never mind, from a judge to a jester… this is what happens when we lean on our own understanding, we miss the sacred blessings of living in Gods will and have to endure many corrections from the Father.

Christian… in order to know God’s will and live in it we must rely completely upon the Lord with EVERY decision in life. As thinking beings we are to think things out in his presence and trust Him for the final decision! Listen to what the New Testament says about this. James 1:5 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” WE ARE TO ASK GOD! Phil. 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Supplication is the action of asking earnestly and humbly.

In order to know and live in God’s will we must rely on Him completely to give us wisdom in making those everyday decisions that we face, so that we make the decisions He desires us to make. We will find His wisdom as we search His Word and converse with Him in Prayer.

II. We Must Constantly Recognize The Lord (6)

The second condition Solomon gives his son is to constantly recognize the Lordship of God. There is an old saying, “God is either Lord of all or not Lord at all.” Solomon tells his son to acknowledge the Lord. The word acknowledge in Hebrew is yā·ḏǎʿ which means to become known or to notice. In this context it means acknowledge God as our loving father and Sovereign Lord.

I still remember when my kids were little and I’d come home from work after being gone all week, I’d pull into the drive way and walk inside the house, my boys stopped what they were doing and ran towards me shouting daddy, daddy and would wrap there arms around me in a tight embrace. That’s how we acknowledge our heavenly Father at all times, embracing Him as our loving daddy

But He isn't just our loving daddy He is sovereign God of the universe who has the right to rule over our lives. We must submit to His Lordship!

To submit means to yield the right of way. When I drive around my subdivision there are yield signs which instruct me to slow down or stop when a car is coming from the other direction. If we want to know and live in God’s will for our life we must yield completely to Him.

When we yield and rely on Him we receive a wonderful reward! Listen to this blessed promise, “He will direct our paths.” This is much more than guidance but the removal of obstacles! In Hebrew the word direct is yâshar which means to make straight and in this context its to cut a straight path. This word is used 25 times in the Old Testament, listen to its use in Is. 40:3-4 “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, And every mountain and hill shall be made low: And the crooked shall be made straight, And the rough places plain.”

Let me tell you what God will do for the man, woman, boy, and girl who relies on the Lord completely and recognizes the Lord constantly, He will bulldoze a path through the wilderness. The obstacles will be removed and by the providence of Sovereign God your path will be smooth and you will be on it! Living in the will of God!

Conclusion: Perhaps you are here today and can be honest with yourself and admit that you do not know God’s will for your life thus you are not living in God’s will for your life. You can admit that you haven’t made the right decisions in life and confess that its because we haven't trusted in God with all our hearts seeking Him as we make every decision we are faced with. Perhaps you can be honest and admit that you haven't constantly acknowledged God as Lord over every aspect of your life. All that can change today if we heed these instructions. Rely on the Lord completely and recognize Him constantly.

THIS SERMON WAS GREATLY CONDENSED WHEN DELIVERED