Knowing the Will of God

“We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.” (Colossians 1:9 NLT)

Honestly, ‘complete knowledge of His will’ trips me up a bit today. Can we truly know the ins and outs of the will of God in our life? Or could ‘complete knowledge’ be translated as ‘complete confidence’? Meaning, we may not know all the twists and turns on the path to fulfillment as much as we have a sincere belief about direction and God’s sovereignty amidst our daily. Maybe, even more radically than that, Paul had reached a place of intimacy with Christ where the plan wasn’t nearly as mystical as it is for most of us.

Complete knowledge is surely only available through intimacy. Recall the King James term for making babies; “Adam knew his wife and she conceived…” (Genesis 4:1). True intimacy conceives new life, a dynamic change in direction and purpose. Similarly, when we are courageous enough to walk with God in unfettered intimacy (when we are naked and unashamed – ever conscious of our sin nature and still fleeing from rather than our Creator) He conceives and gestates His good plan in us.

When we are at an utter loss for next steps in God’s will, it’s one of two possibilities: either there is a lack of intimacy/surrender/obedience in our walk with God OR the plan is still in the small but sacred window of conception and early gestation. The story of our lives are knit together in the secret place before they are paraded in the public arena.

The solution for our directional blur? Pulling closer to the One who authors the plan. Spend time in the presence of God, not just pestering Him about the unknowns, but truly enjoying Him for Who He is. Coming close because we can’t help ourselves, we long to live near to Him.

We’ve also got to remember the factor of unconfessed sin. Unconfessed sin barricades us from receiving God’s love. Unconfessed sin sends us to the ends of the earth in a futile attempt to escape His wrath. We will never know the will of God for our life if we won’t get close enough to hear Him whisper it.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart: do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 7:5-6 NLT)

Trusting requires closeness. It’s tough to trust from afar. But the closer we move toward God, the easier it is to cultivate full confidence. It is in intimacy where we learn to trust Him more and more.

One last thought. We want so badly to figure it out. In fact, I’ve been learning a lot about how our brains work and it turns out, when we don’t know the full story, our minds cope by filling in the gaps on their own. Brené Brown frames it this way “The story I’m telling myself is…” Sometimes our blanks are simply incorrect and we are walking in falsehood because our brains have jumped to the wrong conclusion.

This happens with us and God’s will, also. I liken it to my elementary years. The teacher would pass out a paper to teach through. Being a hopeless over achiever, I’d read ahead and fill in the blanks long before she got there. But it turns out that eager students can also be earnestly incorrect. If we rush to fill the blanks that God hasn’t yet given the go-ahead on, we can twist the plot to our detriment. We must slow down and keep pace with the Teacher, He’ll distribute answers as needed.

Lord, when we are afraid about the future help us pull close. When we are sure of You will, help us pull close.When we discover again how we are STILL sinners saved by grace alone, give us the guts to confess anew and pull close again. Forgive us for filling in the blanks on our own and coming to wrong conclusions. Help us live in ongoing intimacy with You, not for the benefit of gaining wisdom and understanding, but for the pure joy of truly knowing You. Amen.