What Is God’s Will For My Life?

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

WHAT IS GOD’S WILL FOR MY LIFE? This is quite possibly the most commonly asked question in Christianity today. We have questions and face decisions all the time, and we find ourselves constantly wondering about God’s will in them.

Some decisions are small and seem less significant. What book should I read this month? Where should we eat today? Other questions involve large, life-altering decisions. What career path should I choose? Should I marry? Should we have kids? And in the middle of it all, we keep coming back to one question: What does God want me to do?

We operate as if God’s will for us has been lost somewhere. And with all good intentions, we’ve devised an assortment of methods for finding it.

There’s the “Random Finger Method,” where we open the Bible at random and put a finger down on a verse to discover God’s will for our lives. There’s the “Astonishing Miracle Method,” where we look for a burning bush like Moses found. The “Striking Coincidence Method” tells us to be on the lookout for unusual coincidences to pop up and tell us what to do.

The list goes on. There’s the “Cast the Fleece Method,” which requires testing God to see what he wants us to do; the “Still Small Voice Method,” which advocates waiting for God to speak to us subtly and quietly; the “Open Door Method,” which says that if an opportunity opens up, it is obviously God’s will for us to take it; and of course, the “Closed Door Method,” which states that if a decision seems difficult, it’s obviously not God’s will for us to make it.

But what if God’s will was never intended to be found? In fact, what if it was never hidden from us in the first place? What if searching for God’s will misses the entire point of what it means to be a disciple?

Discipleship transforms not only our mind and emotions, but also our will. To quote Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”^a As followers of Jesus, our lives are subsumed in his life, and our ways are totally surrendered to his will.

As such, our aim as disciples of Jesus is not to answer the question, “What is God’s will for my life?” It is to walk in God’s will on a moment-by-moment, day-by-day basis.

Thank God for revealing himself in his Word, and ask him to give you wisdom as you seek to live for his glory.