Our culture has taught us to look at our lives as a journey. “Life is a Highway” is the philosophy I heard about 18 million times when my kids were young and watched Cars on endless repeat.
If life is a journey, we assume God’s will for our lives is laid out like directions on Google Maps. Start here, head north for 12.8 miles, turn left and go 7.4 miles, and you’ll arrive at your destination: happily married with 2.5 kids and a nice house in a quiet neighborhood.
Here’s the thing. God has drawn up a clear and detailed map for you, but it’s probably not quite what you were expecting. The starting position in the journey isn’t the point in time where you entered the world. It’s the “Alpha” in “Alpha and Omega.” The eternal preexistence and transcendence of God:
Thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15)
Isaiah starts with a bottom-line thought that’s fundamental to our view of God and his relationship to us: God is high and lifted up. He’s not bound by the laws of this world. He lives outside of our space and time. He’s sovereign over the universe. He’s holy and set apart. He’s not my co-pilot or my best buddy.
That’s the beginning point on the Google map. Then Isaiah talks about the journey: God’s immanence as he dwells with knuckleheads like us. While God is separate and superior, at the same time he’s also up close and personal. He’s not some distant deity, watching the events here on earth on a livestream. He’s active in nature, in government, in culture, and especially in the lives of those of us who are “contrite and lowly in spirit.”
Which brings us to the destination Isaiah mentions at the end of the verse: a revived heart. God’s will is to defibrillate our cold, dead hearts and bring us life through the Spirit. According to Paul, the Holy Spirit is constantly working out God’s will in our lives. He says, “The Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:27).
So what is the will of God that the Spirit is interceding for? The next verse clears it up: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” And what kind of good is God working toward? Keep reading the next verse: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”
And there it is. God’s will in every situation is to conform you to the image of his Son. To make you more like Jesus.
That’s the simplest way to find God’s will. For every decision, opportunity, and risk, just ask yourself: “Will this make me and the people around me look more or less like Jesus?”
Now, that question isn’t always easy to answer. Which is why James gives this promise: “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God — who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly — and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). From the context, it’s clear that James isn’t talking about some wispy, theoretical wisdom or some deafening voice from heaven. He’s talking about the kind of wisdom that guides you in your everyday life.
The kind of wisdom that determines how you’ll reflect Christ in the hectic stress of the office. How you’ll respond to your baby after he throws his bottle on the floor for the 10th time. What you’ll do when there’s a post that catches your eye but is clearly destructive to your soul.
He’s talking about wisdom that will probably be tough to follow. That’s why he says in the next verse, “But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord, 8 being double-minded and unstable in all his ways.” In other words, “If you’re not going to act on the wisdom God gives you, then don’t even bother asking. You won’t get it anyway.”
The way we respond to God’s wisdom in the little choices we make every day can have a major effect on the the way he’ll guide us in the big decisions we face. And when the life-changing forks in the road do come, James has some advice for that too.
A few chapters later, he uses the example of businessmen planning a major corporate expansion. He lets us listen in on their boardroom meeting as they say something like, “Tomorrow we’ll fly to San Francisco, spend a year getting the new branch up and running, and then we’re guaranteed to make a killer profit.” Here’s James’ reply:
You do not know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:14-16)
Is James condemning their plans? No, not exactly. Is he saying it’s useless for us to prepare for the future? No, not really. But when we’re facing big decisions, he’s telling us to make our plans with humility. James isn’t rebuking these businessmen for their actions as much as their attitudes. He’s condemning their arrogance and their self-confident planning that doesn’t recognize God or his sovereignty.
When you’re making big plans for the future, use every resource God has given you: his word in Scripture, logical thinking in your own brain, and the wisdom of mature Christians.
For a no-nonsense approach to finding God’s will, check out Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung.