How to Seek God's Will

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media]

The past few weeks at Encounter, we’ve been looking for God’s will. Pastor Dirk keeps finding it…in the Bible. Whether it’s the general guiding principles, where to turn for advice, or how to gain some perspective, the Word of God is the source and anchor for seeking His will.

I know that God’s word is truth, and is full of everything I need. So why do I often spend more of my time reading Facebook? Watching random TV shows I don’t even like that much? Strolling through the internet looking for instructions on how to build a retaining wall, yet ending up with plans to build a strawberry tower (that is two hours of my week I’m not getting back)? Perhaps you’re more disciplined than I am, but I have great intentions to read my Bible, yet my time is “stolen” by so many lesser things.

Photo Credit: Flickr User compujeramy, Creative Commons

Every so often, Facebook or my email update their policies, so they helpfully invite me to peruse them; I have to click agree if I want to continue using the program. It turns out there are important disclosures in there, like how they’re going to borrow my information and sell it to other companies, and other things I should probably know. 

Have you ever read any of the policies that you have to click “agree” to?  Confession time: I don’t.  I bypass the ones from social media services, or the manifestos that appear while I’m installing programs on my computer and phone; I scan like a hawk for the “Agree” button, and move on with life. I know I should read these disclosures – but I lack thirty free minutes and a law degree (I know that’s just an excuse…but don’t pretend you read them all either!).

We are beyond blessed to live in a time when the Word of God is so available – I have a copy next to me right now that I can freely read, I can read it on my phone or on my computer – I can even read in different translations and, if I were so educated or inclined, different languages! I embraced early on that Christians believe the whole Bible – every word is inspired from God (2 Timothy 3:16). I went ahead and clicked “agree” to the Bible…long before I had ever studied even a fraction of it.

But like all of those long disclosure agreements, if I’m going to claim that I accept and believe it – I should consider myself on the hook to get into it and know it, to hear from God in His Words, and to obey them.  It’s wonderful to accept it as truth, but I also need to know what that truth is!

I have sought Your face with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise.  I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to Your statues.  Psalm 119:58-59 NIV

Psalm 119 is a beautiful (very, very long) proclamation of love for God’s word. In these two particular verses, the author recognizes that his ways – his will or his plans - were not in line with the ways of God. How did he discover the ways of God? The other 174 verses in the psalm would suggest that he knew them by being all up in the word of God: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” he says in verse 105, and “Direct my footsteps according to your word.” (verse 133)

When we read the Bible to meet God, to hear from Him and learn His ways, it’s going to wrinkle our brains and alter our perspective on life. God sees from an eternal, unlimited perspective while we have only our peephole perspective on the whole thing; His ways might make sense to us, or they might also blow our minds. But if we never seek His perspective, if we never let the truth of His word saturate our minds and hearts, lifting us up out of this dark world to see with His light, then we will only be seeking our will, our way, our path based on our desires, our motivations, and our perspectives.

The Bible is a serious, sometimes overwhelming undertaking (have you ever noticed how many pages there are?!), and it takes some effort to read; but knowing God and having him change my perspective takes more than hearing someone talk about the Bible once a week, or hanging out with people who I assume are reading the Bible. God has gifted us with His Word, and He wants us to dig in, immerse and saturate ourselves in it, and get to know Him.

Maybe you’re so in love with the Word that this long winded thought has served only as a reminder of our commitment to God’s Word.  Or, maybe you’re feeling the motivation to crack open that beautiful Bible you have.  Either way, God wants us to know Him, to get out of our self-seeking worldly perspective and be lifted up to catch a glimpse of what He sees. He wants to speak to us, and to change us. He wants us to know His will!

Your statues are wonderful; therefore I obey them.  The unfolding your Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.Psalm 119:129-130

[Robin Bupp is married to Caleb, and they are from many places east of the Mississippi (but are calling Michigan home for the foreseeable future). A former high school science teacher, Robin is slowly turning the two Bupp kiddos into tiny nerds while they teach her lots of things, including humility and patience.]