Sometimes we may find ourselves at a turning point in our life, a place of change, dealing with a broken life or a tragedy and we turn to seek God's will and direction. Whatever the reason, if you're like me, I want God to tell me what to do, and I want the details! We can know God's voice, but God, usually, leads one day at a time, one step at a time. He doesn't seem to always give alot of details; though, He has given more to some than others! And I'm learning God's will is not about me, it's about what He's doing!
Colossians 1:16 says, "For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, everything got started in Him and finds purpose in Him." If I'm looking for God's will, for God's purpose, it's not about me, my purpose is found in Him; I was created for His plans and purposes, not my own. So, to do God's will, I have to look beyond myself!
Since God doesn't change, I've been looking in the scriptures to see how God's dealt with others in giving them direction. I can't go wrong by remaining in His truths and seeking, paying attention to how He's speaking to me through His Word! His Spirit in me and His truths are my Guide, my Counselor. "My wisdom," my opinions, are sure to get me in plenty of trouble, so I want to seek His counsel, His instruction and follow, completely!
We talked about Noah in the last blog, "Sweet Surrender, All We Were Meant To Be." God shared with Noah His plan to destroy all of life and to start over again with Noah and his family. Noah chose to be apart of God's plan and responded to all God asked him to do. Noah didn't choose to do his own thing, He chose to do God's thing ~ that's what I want to do!
Abraham was living in Ur of the Chaldeans when the Lord spoke to him: "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
I like that, God approached Abraham and ask him to be apart of His plan to build a nation. He asked Abraham to leave Ur, the place he was living, and to follow Him, but He only says, "to the place I will show you;" He doesn't say where that is! Wow! I have to ask myself, "Would I be willing to leave where I am now and respond to God's "follow me" before He told me where I was going? He did give Abraham some details: "I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." We like details don't we? I know I do! But sometimes God gives little or no details!
What about the calling of the first disciples, what details were they given?
In Matthew 12 we find Jesus walking along the Sea of Gaililee, He sees two brothers, Simon who was called Peter and His brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, they were fisherman. Jesus said, "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Verse 20 says, "At once they left their nets and followed Him." (Wow! Not alot of details!)"Follow me and I'll make you fisher's of men?"Wouldn't we want to ask what it means to be a fisher of men? Or to know where we are going and for how long? But they, simply, followed, they left everything! Then going on from there Jesus saw two brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father, preparing nets. Jesus called them, and IMMEDIATELY they left the boat and their father and followed Him. No details here at all! (Don't you want to know more? What? Where? How long?) We don't know, it doesn't say, here! Also, in Matthew 9 Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow Me," He told him, and Matthew got up and followed Him. Again, no details, just "follow Me" and Matthew follows!
Moses was given alot more details, but he was the one that argued with God to the place that God was ready to take his life! Lol. I think, actually, too many details can be as scarey, as the lack of them! The "angel of the Lord" appears to Moses in a burning bush; you can read the account in Exodus 3. God tells Moses that He has seen the misery of His people in Egypt. He says that He has heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and that He has "come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. He says their cry has reached Him and He sees the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. God says, "So now I am going to send you to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt." (It's not a request, God tells Moses more like He's informing him, but still Moses is bold enough to argue.) God promises to be with him and says it will be a sign to Moses, himself, that God has sent him.
Then God gives Moses further instructions; to say, "I am, sent me" when asked, to say, "The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you." God told Moses that the elders of Israel would listen to him, but that the king of Egypt would not let them go unless a mighty hand compels him. God said He would stretch out His hand and strike the Egyptians with all kinds of wonders and that after that Pharoah would let them go. God also told Moses that He would cause the Egyptian people to be favorably disposed toward the Israelites; that every woman was to ask their neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which they were to put on their sons and daughters, that they would plunder the Egyptians. God is being pretty specific!
Moses questioned, "What if they don't listen to me?"If they didn't believe him, Moses was given some signs and wonders by God to perform before them. God asked Moses to throw down his staff and it turned into a snake and when told to take it by the tail, it turned back into a staff. (God knew Moses felt inadequate and needed his faith boosted, he needed to see the signs.) God said it was to proved to them that He had appeared to Moses. God, also, told Moses to put his hand into his cloak, when he took it back out, it was leprous; when God had him put it back in and take it out again, it was restored. The third sign God gave Moses was to be done if they did not believe the first two. He was to take some water from the Nile and pour it on dry ground and it would become blood.
Moses still argued with God again; this time about not being eloquent, but God tells Moses that He will teach him what to say. Moses still begs God to send someone else. God became very angry with Moses, but God shows mercy and gives Moses, Aaron, his brother, the Levite to go with him to speak in Moses' place ~ Moses was to tell Aaron what to say. We serve a patient God! God promised to teach them both what to say and do. Moses was given alot of information, alot of details! Lol. Of all the men we've looked at today, Moses was given the most details, but is the only one that questions God.
God's Spirit dwells in us, as New Testament believers. Moses was told God's Spirit would go with Him, but like with Moses, He (the Spirit) will teach us and counsel us.
John 14:26a says,
"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things."We can count on that!
We can see in the scriptures that God gives more details to some than others, but for the most part, God unfolds His plan to us one step at a time, as we follow Him. God, in us, goes with us; we don't need to know what God doesn't tell us, He will show us the way; we only need to follow and obey step by step.
We can stir around and try to make things happen in our timing, according to our will, but we will just weary ourselves. When we submit ourselves to God and wait when He says, "Wait" and follow when He leads, we can rest and be at peace. When the circumstances look bleak, we keep our eyes on Him, not on the problems, and trust, this is faith!
Notice in everyone of these circumstances there was an invitation from God for these people to join God in what He was planning to do. It was never about them; they left what they were doing, their lives, to do what God was doing. Other examples of God's invitation are Saul, David, Gideon, John, Paul and Ananias, just to name a few.
In our next blog, I'd like to take a look at Jesus' life and see how He discerned what was important for Him to be doing. We can learn alot from His example, about knowing and understanding God's will.
May God bless you as you continue to seek to know God, more intimately, and to know and do His will! Get into His Word, ask God to teach you and if I can be of any help, let me know! You matter to God more than you could ever think to imagine and you matter to me!
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