0709 FINDING GOD’S WILL, PART FOUR

JULY 9 = 2 THESSALONIANS 1

FINDING GOD’S WILL, PART FOUR

While I seek to find the center of God’s will for my life, my faith is growing more and more, and my love for others is increasing. I am developing perseverance and faith.

And yet, as I grow in learning God’s ways, I find that not everything about finding God’s will is good. Not everything is falling into place. Worse than that, I begin to find myself being rejected because of my faith. 

How can it be that finding God’s will would lead to such trouble? I thought that God always wanted our good. What are we to make of it all? Here’s what Paul explained.

“All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 

He has said something, but he hasn’t explained anything yet. How, exactly, does my suffering provide evidence that God’s judgment is right? I guess you have to jump to the end of the story to know.

God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”

So God’s will may lead to persecution, but in the end the persecutors will be punished, and we will marvel at the glorious one who has bought our salvation. 

Our salvation! That is certainly the will of God. “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

Logically, it then follows that a big part of finding the will of God is to share the good news about Jesus, so that others who are outside of his will can share in our salvation. “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2) 

While I am seeking the center of God’s will, I know day by day what my priorities should be, and I know what lies ahead. 

And now that I’ve said all that, let me clarify that we have been talking about God’s “general will” to this point. God does also have a “particular will” for each of us, but that was not in these chapters of Scripture. 

Even so, now let me briefly make a case for God’s particular will. Jesus taught us to pray, “Let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That prayer is easy to pray from a distance. But it is tested when your will and God’s will are not in natural agreement. Jesus was tested just before his betrayal in the Garden. Knowing what was ahead, Jesus prayed, If it is your will, remove this cup from me. Yet, not my will but yours be done. He knew what he must do, because the Father revealed all to him. And if we walk in the Spirit, he will also guide us day by day. 

James tells us, “Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a yer there, carry on business, and make a profit. You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! . . . Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and so this or that.” 

Paul writes, “But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing, and then . . . “ (1 Corinthians 4:19) And remember how Luke said, “The Holy Spirit had prevented them from speaking the word in the province of Asia, they traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia. And when they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not permit them.” Acts 16 

This is the experiential leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives. May you and I both experience providential timing, the Spirit’s leading, answered prayers, and promptings and prophecies that only God can give. Amen.