When You Don’t Know What to Do There are times when you don’t know what to do. Well, not exactly. You know you are to obey God’s Word, trust in the Lord, love your neighbor, etc., but what about all the decisions that you need to make that fit into the white spaces of Scripture? What job offer should you take? What car should you buy? What should be your next step, if any, in dealing with that difficult person at work? Should you move, stay put, upgrade, or downsize? If you could just get an email from Jesus, a text from Michael the Archangel, or get transported into heaven to get some specific answers then -- you wouldn’t need to live by faith. You wouldn’t need to trust God. You wouldn’t need to apply certain Scriptures because you would get what you wanted right now! Which is what we are used to in America. I want, what I want, right now! More, faster, and better. It is all about me and my personal comfort. This “me focused attitude” makes us impatient. It causes us to forget about God’s glory and eternity. We are the guy looking at the mud in the ditty, “Two prisoners stood looking out through the bars, one saw the mud, the other the stars.” Yes, when we are self-focused rather than God focused, we become mud mongers. We are looking down at this world, its sin, its corruption, wars, plagues, viruses, unrest, and evil. We begin to fear the future, the uncertainty of what is to happen to us! Advertisers purposefully try to create fear in us to make us buy things that don’t really give us security or happiness, but we believe their adds, and buy their products anyway, only to be left feeling empty and more in debt. But what should you do when you don’t know what to do? Let’s start with what we know we are always supposed to do and then work towards the specifics of finding God’s will for our lives. First we know we need to give glory to God! Giving God glory is the chief end of man. Got it! Second, we know that we give God glory by loving Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, which is the greatest commandment. Check! Now if you are me, right about at this point, your conscience begins to interrupt and says, “Pissst, you don’t love God like you should, just saying.” Yes, yes, but before we go down that road, the road of being a sinner, even though saved by grace, let’s keep on track with what we know. First it is God’s will that we give Him glory, second that we love Him with our entire being, and third, it is God’s will that we obey His Word. I know, we are failures, the Bible is huge, there are zillions of dos and don’ts. Eeek! I know, we will get to our failures in a moment, but stay on track and let’s just stick with the broad categories of what we know is God’s will for us. We have to obey His Word, whatever that may means, because obeying God is the only way we can show love to God. If we love Christ, we will keep His commandments, which are not burdensome, because we love Christ. It is not a burden to obey and serve someone you love. It is a joy, a pleasure, a treat! We now have a pretty big overarching “This is the will of God” category laid out before us. We are to give God glory by obeying His Word out of love. See, that wasn’t too difficult to grasp, yes, putting it into practice is a bit of a nightmare, but now we can say, “Yes, I know what to do in a lot of areas because God’s Word addresses many, many, things.” We are to live by faith, trust the Lord, worship the Lord, pray, give, serve, tell others about Jesus, abstain from immorality, etc. The list is long. But how does knowing this help us make decisions in our life that fall into the white spaces of Scripture? Pay close attention now. There are three different categories of God’s will that we might consider. The first is God’s absolute or sovereign, all encompassing decree that cannot be changed or altered. These are the things God has chosen to do before the foundation of the world and they will come to pass – period. He doesn’t ask us to participate or help Him execute His decree. He doesn’t even tell us what it is, except in the prophecies of the Bible. So we don’t need to worry about Jesus coming back in glory or try to prevent the rise of the antichrist, etc. We can’t escape or live outside of God’s absolute sovereign decree. God, we are told in Eph. 1:11, is working all things after the counsel of His will. So take a deep breath. Your mess-ups and sins will not thwart God’s decree. A second area of God’s will is His moral will, revealed will, His prescribed, or perceptive will found in all the commands and exhortations of the Bible. Think about going to the doctor. He writes you a prescription for some medical issue you have. If you take your medicine, you will get better, if you don’t, you won’t. Well, in a similar way, God gave us the Bible to help us know Him, love Him, and understand His “prescribed will” for us. He wants us to take our medicine so we continue to heal up from the fall of man and the curse in Adam and become more like Jesus. This process of becoming more like Jesus is called sanctification. Yes, we are all sinners, but let’s just say that you are seeking to obey all you know God wants you to do in His Word. Yes, you fail, but you do what the Bible says when you sin and you confess it to God and God, through Christ, keeps forgiving you and cleansing you from all unrighteousness (I Jn. 1:9). God’s grace in Christ Jesus covers all your sins, all the time, and will do so forever and ever. If you know Jesus Christ in a saving way, and are born again, you are no longer under any condemnation, but have been declared perfectly righteous based on the person and work of Christ on the cross. You are forgiven. In Christ, you are guiltless before an infinitely holy God. Wow! Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus! He who began a good work in you will bring it to perfect completion. God will persevere in your sanctification. Christ will continue to be your advocate. The Holy Spirit will continue to be your strength. You are an unworthy, hell deserving, formerly God hating, wretched, hopeless, helpless sinner – SAVED BY GRACE! Without Christ you can do nothing, but praise God, you have Christ. He dwells within you. He has given you His Spirit. He will never leave you or forsake you. Believer, don’t let your sin and your failures keep you from rejoicing that you are moving, no matter how slowly it may seem, on an inexorable, intractable, path to glories untold! No sin, no amount of rebellion, or series of bad decisions can keep a true, born again, justified believer from reaching that cherished goal of standing in Christ’s presence blameless with great joy. You will make it because Jesus Christ will make sure you make it. As you strive to persevere until the end, Christ Jesus will persevere in you. His Word cannot fail. His Spirit will never leave you for you are sealed until the day of redemption. I remind you of these things, though they are not specifically related to the will of God and “what you should do,” so that you can be encouraged knowing that whatever happens in this life, glory dwells in Emmanuel’s land. Back to the final category of God’s will. We have God’s absolute all encompassing decree that we don’t need to worry about because it is a secret for the most part and God is going to make sure all of that works out. Secondly we have the prescribe will of God for us as written in the Word of God. We do have to do something about that and it is a life long journey of growth by failure, trial, and success. But even though we are called upon to obey what the Scriptures tell us to do, we are also told in the Scriptures that we have everything we need for life and godliness. This includes our failures. The Bible itself equips every believer for every good deed. Not only that we have the Holy Spirit and the promises and the fellowship of the saints, and so many other gracious gifts to help us along our way to the Celestial City. Yes we are going to blow it along the way, but God knew that and has made provision for us in Christ Jesus. So we can press on without fear. But what about that decision that isn’t good or bad, morally speaking. It doesn’t violate the Word of God. You can go to one college or another, buy one car or another, or keep your old junker. You can move or stay put. You can have a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch or a salad. All decisions you make, if you are submitting to the prescribed will of God, are fine. Move, don’t move. Get the car, don’t get the car. Go for the other job, don’t go for the other job. If you are living in obedience to the revealed will of God, you are in the will of God. Remember, you can’t escape His absolute decree. This may give you some relief, but it also may not erase all of your fears. What if you invest your money and the investment goes bad and you loose everything? What if you buy that car then loose your job and then the car too? What if you move to that other place and the good church you thought was there, has a split right after you arrive, and they get a terrible pastor? What if . . . STOP! STOP IT! I have these two verses on my screen saver to help me with “what if?” attacks, ““But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:33–34, NASB95) Selah, pause and meditate on that text! You can’t escape God’s decree. You are trying to obey God’s will and when you fail you are obeying God’s will and confessing your sins and pressing on towards the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You have decisions to make. Decisions that fall into the white spaces of Scripture. Yes, there are biblical principles that can be considered when making them, but the fact is, it is your decision and you are going to make a decision. Let’s start with what might be labeled as the worse case scenario. You loose your job. You get cancer. Your marriage fails. Your child rejects the Lord. Your baby dies at six weeks of age. What are you going to do? What is God’s will for you? His decree is still in place. His Word is still there to guide, direct, and encourage. His promises cannot fail. What do you do? You are going to live in faith, day by day, and if it gets really bad, moment by moment. You are going to try and obey the Word of God, confess your sins when you fail, trust in the Lord, remember His promises, and you are not going to worry about tomorrow, because each day has enough trouble of its own. Eventually, God’s providence, directed by His absolute decree, will see you through this life to glory everlasting. You will accomplish all God has for you to accomplish in this life. We often quote Eph. 2:8-9 but many don’t know vs.10 which seals the deal. All three verses read, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8–10, NASB95) Notice that God has prepared things for you to do, and you are going to do them. God’s promises cannot be broken. His decree cannot be altered. Yes, we need to obey the Bible, but even when we fail, we have perfect forgiveness in Christ. Wait, trust, be encouraged, and seek to obey God’s prescribed will. All the rest is fine, even if it causes you pain, trial, and anguish. It is through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. So when trials come, and they will, don’t be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes upon you for your testing as though some strange thing were happening to you. God sees it, God sent it or has allowed it to happen. His grace is sufficient for you. Your trials give you opportunities to grow and exercise your faith and give Him glory. Well if I am obeying God’s revealed will, I can have that chocolate shake! Uh, maybe not ;-)
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 16:48:15 +0000