Ephesians 5:17-21
“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
We are a called people, and we are a commanded people.
Scripture communicates God’s truth to us. Whenever scripture gives a directive or command, it communicates God’s will. It communicates what God wants us to do, as well as what God wants us to not do. In that regard, scripture gives us verse after verse of God’s will for our lives.
Therefore, it strikes me as very strange that Christians are so preoccupied with discovering God’s will for their life. It’s not as if his will is a secret. The Lord is not some kind of cosmic Easter Bunny who has hidden his will in the spiritual backyard, requiring us to search for it while using “open doors and closed doors” and “feelings of peace” to tell us whether we are “getting hotter” or “getting colder” in proximity to what he wants us to do.
Paul cuts right to the chase in Ephesians 5 when he says, “Don’t be foolish. Understand what the will of the Lord is.” In other words, if you don’t know God’s will, then you are not paying attention to what God teaches in scripture. You are like the foolish man in Proverbs who doesn’t listen to his father’s instruction.
“Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching … Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble. Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.” (Proverbs 4.1-2, 10-15)
Christians need to spend less time and energy pursuing what God hasn’t said, and pay much more time and energy obeying what God has said. We need to focus on obeying God’s revealed will, not pestering him about his unrevealed will.
Before praying and asking the Lord to reveal his will to you regarding some area of your life, stop and ask yourself, “Am I obeying what scripture already teaches about this?”
“My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4.20-23)
