“What is God’s will for my life?”
This is a common question for a follower of Jesus. We want to know what’s coming- and we sincerely want to know what God wants us to do.
And let’s be honest: we want details!
What we really want, so often, when we ask this question, is for God to give us a Google Map, step-by-step preview of our lives: whether we go to college or not, who we are to date and marry, what career we are supposed to have, what church we are to go to, which house we should buy, and whether we should get a dog or a cat.
I can tell you on the last one that He wants you to have a dog. I’m kidding…sort of.
Seriously, though. When we ask this question, we want to know everything possible. We don’t want surprises.
This, however, is not how God works.
God does not reveal His plan for us in its details. He simply reveals to us our next steps.
Perhaps that’s why the writer of Psalm 119 said this in Psalm 119:105:
“Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.”
That’s not a step-by-step Google map; that’s just enough to see right in front of you; just enough to see what comes immediately next. What that leads us to is a different question than “What is God’s will for my life?” Instead, we begin to ask something like this:
“What does God want me to do right now?”
Not coincidentally, this is how God actually leads us into the “bigger picture” of what He calls us to do down the road. Who we marry, what career path we take, how we serve in the church, how we raise our children, and every other conceivable “big” thing that God leads us into is the culmination of simply taking the step that God puts in front of you right now.
Consider the life of David. David was anointed as king at age 13- but didn’t become king until he was 30. In the meantime, he didn’t ask “How will I get to be king?” Instead…
- When he was invited to play a harp for King Saul to soothe Saul’s spirit, he did so.
- When he was asked by his dad to deliver lunch to his brothers on the battlefield, he did it without hesitation.
- When the opportunity came to battle Goliath, he stepped into it without hesitation.
- When Saul appointed him as a military leader, he accepted the assignment.
- When Saul began coming after David to kill him and David had multiple opportunities to do so and claim the throne- he refused! He refused to murder in order to get what God had promised him.
And eventually…David ends up becoming king; not because he tried to become king. Rather, it was a function of simply taking the step God put in front of him in the moment.
With that in mind, here’s the question for us to wrestle with: What is God asking me to do right now?
Maybe it’s time to take your faith public through baptism. Maybe it’s time to start serving on Sunday. Maybe it’s time to have a conversation with someone and forgive them. Maybe it’s time to break off a negative relationship. Maybe it’s time to seek marriage counseling. Maybe it’s time to take a risk and step out of a dead-end job. Maybe it’s time to invite that co-worker you’ve been praying about to church. Maybe it’s time to get serious about reading the Bible every single day.
It could be almost anything. The question is whether or not we will obey, because reality is this:
God will never lead us to next until we follow Him now- and no step along the way is small or insignificant.
It’s great to have big dreams. I think it’s biblical and godly. But that never means we should neglect the small steps along the way that God puts in front of us each and every day. The reason for that is because where God leads us is not the product of one big moment- it’s the product of an almost endless number of next steps that we take each week, each day, and even each moment.
And if we’ll identify what God wants us to do NOW and do it- then that will lead us into exactly what He desires for our lives.