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Asking the Right Questions:
Seeking God's Will for Your Life
By Kimberly Sowell
Are you seeking God’s direction for your life? Are you hoping for a “yes” or “no” answer about making a job transition, taking on a ministry opportunity, or moving forward in a relationship? Make sure you’re asking the right questions.
*Do you frame your questions from the proper perspective? All that we do is to bring glory to God. We may suffer, lose, be put to shame, experience hardship, miss out on comfort or pleasure, we may do things that cause our loved ones to miss out on comfort or pleasure, we may walk into danger, traverse the valley of the shadow of death – all for the glory of God. With this perspective, the only appropriate question in seeking God’s will is completely centered on the way we can best bring honor and glory to God, regardless of the cost to us. We take thoughts of self out of the equation – even thoughts of others, since ultimately we serve God alone, and He loves others in greater capacity than we could ever begin to love - and we completely focus on God. The question, “God, can I afford to do this?” is replaced with “God, will this bring glory to Your name?” Instead of asking, “God, will this get me further in my career?” we ask, “God, are you calling me to do this so that I might honor You?” Instead of “what is best for me” questions, we ask “what is best for God’s kingdom” questions.
*Do your questions to God match the questions you’re asking yourself? We can be spiritually-minded as we voice our questions to God, but what we mull over all day long in our private thoughts are powerful to influence our decision-making process. We may come to God to ask, “Lord, do you want me to go on this mission trip?” and then spend the rest of the afternoon asking ourselves, “Can my children manage without me for a week?” The questions we’re asking ourselves lead us to make an educated guess to the answers, and what will we do if our educated guess is in direct opposition to the answer God gives to the question we asked of Him? It’s then that we find ourselves saying, “I think God is calling me to do this, but…”, and we finish that sentence based on the answers we have delivered for ourselves. We have created our own conflict, because we asked a question of God and separately consulted ourselves.
*Do you ask God for answers, or explanations? I have a bad habit of over-explaining myself. One day, a dear friend said, “Kimberly, we trust you. Just tell us what to do, and we’ll do it. You don’t have to justify yourself to us.” I realized I was slightly paranoid, but the key was their trust in me. I didn’t have to explain myself.
Do we trust God? Is it enough for us to know that God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, and therefore far more qualified to make decisions than we are? Do we believe He has a plan as He orchestrates all things for our good and His glory? Or will we refuse to acknowledge that we’ve heard from God with a green light or red light, holding out until God somehow makes it clear to us that what He’s telling us makes sense to our minds?
*Do you ask questions that you’re willing to have answered? I joke with my husband, no fair asking me what restaurant I want to go to if you’re going to reject every choice that I suggest! There’s no need to enter the throne room of God with a question if we’re not willing to accept the answer.
It’s no small thing to seek the mind of Christ. Our Savior was completely yielded to the will of the Father, even unto death on the cross. It was not the decision His friends or His mother would have made for Him. It was not a choice that His flesh (that which made Him fully man) agreed with, either. We see Jesus agonizing over the weight of the cross as He prayed to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet as we see Jesus walking through the hours that followed, as He was arrested in the garden up until the moment when He uttered, “It is finished” on the cross, we see our Lord completely resolved to fulfill the will of the Father. We, too, can be resolved to press forward even in the midst of difficulty when we know we are fulfilling the will of God.
How can you be sure that you know? When can you be satisfied that you’ve heard from God? The truth of the matter is that we likely know the answer before we get to a place of peace where we’re finally willing to admit it. Saying out loud that we have an answer makes the decision feel final, and we delay saying anything that will leave us with no more excuses and no more options. Perhaps we delay because we’re afraid to fail. But God is trustworthy and so patient with us! He will uphold us with His righteous right hand. The One who holds the answers to our questions will accompany us down the paths of His holy will, one step at a time.
