A few years ago, I received a distressing email from an old friend. Emotions don’t often come through well in emails, but I could tell he was severely agitated. Seven years into his marriage, his wife had suddenly and unexpectedly asked him for a divorce. After seven years of the same kind of joys, struggles, and trials that every married couple goes through, his wife suddenly decided that it needed to end.
And the reason this mature Christian woman gave? This Bible-study leader and avid student of the Scriptures who had been a channel for God’s wisdom and joy into the lives of many people? She said it was God’s will.
She admitted to her husband that she had never been 100% convinced that it was God’s will for them to be married in the first place. So in her mind, she found it perfectly justifiable to throw away their marriage because it might not have been exactly what God wanted.
In the past few weeks, I’ve talked to a number of people who are desperate to find out God’s will for their lives. Some are desperate to discern God’s will for big decisions they’re making. Others are desperate to know how to deal with tough situations they’re facing.
So what exactly is God’s will? How can we find his guidance? More importantly, how do we follow it? Over the next few days, we’ll search the Scriptures to see just how God reveals himself and his plan for our lives.