Many Christians complain that they cannot discover the will of God for their lives. Some of those, I believe, may struggle because they do not seek to live in His will. Rather, they are looking for a magic eight ball: shake it up, turn it over, and read the will of the Lord. Should I take that job? Ask the eight ball. Should I marry this person? Ask the eight ball. Should I go to the mission field..? You get it. Many Christians are seized with fear about such things because they have never submitted to God in more foundational ways.
What are the first things that God wills for our lives? To walk daily with Jesus. To love Him with all our heart, all our mind, and all our strength. To love one another in the same way as we love ourselves. To obey His commandments. To pray continuously. To take care of the poor, widowed, and orphaned. To give generously.
If we fail to do God’s will in those foundational things, we cannot expect to know God’s will in the more personal things.
If you are seized with fear about the direction of your life, then be faithful to that which is foundational. Fear Not, but desire just one thing: “that I might not offend Him.”
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Brother Lawrence said the greatest pains or pleasures of this world were not to be compared with what he had experienced of both kinds in a spiritual state. As a result he feared nothing, desiring only one thing of God – that he might not offend Him. He said he carried no guilt. “When I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, I am used to do so. I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself. If I fail not, then I give God thanks acknowledging that it comes from Him.”
– from The Practice of the Presence of God.
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