Discerning God's will for us

[Pietro]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I have come to the conclusion that, indeed, God’s ways are inscrutable and far beyond our ways such that it is not really feasible to rely on signs or hints to know God’s will for us. We have scripture, the commandments, the teaching of Christ and the precepts of the Church. We have some very definite moral norms to tell us right from wrong but when it comes to choices that are both without moral problem I think it is simply impossible to know what God favors if God favors either at all.

For example, we might have a choice to pick between two jobs, two places to live, two career paths and if both of them are morally acceptable all we can do is pray for guidance and be open to what God might lead us to in discernment. Once we have done that, it seems to me, all we can do is have faith that God has led us regardless of how disastrous the outcome might seem.

When I hear people say that God told them to do something or that God laid it upon their heart I’m very skeptical. We may feel drawn or even compelled for any number of reasons and just because something may seem to flow easily or something else may be full of frustrations it is not necessarily an indication of God’s will. As far as I am concerned God’s will for each of us is inscrutable. All we can do is trust in the discernment process that God has led us to where we are if we have been faithful in prayer and in keeping the commandments & precepts.

What do you think?

[PhilipDC78]

I think that it is very possible to know what God's will is, if you know how to hear him. Have people misunderstood Him, or stated that something was God's will when it wasn't? Probably. Is God's will always the "easy" way, or the way that is "most comfortable"? No. Does doing God's will always have what would seem to be a positive outcome in the world's eyes? No.

However, so say that it is not possible to definitively know God's will is the same thing as saying that it is not possible to have direct communication with God, at least in my opinion.

[Jan]

What I know is there is no possible excuse for ignorance on our part if we are normally sane for we have been given plenty of Scriptures to prove and to make plain what we need to know, if we disire to understand at all.

We have been fully shown by His Word the will of God and what it is and what our reponsiblity is in getting what we need in life.

As a Believer we have the Holy Spirit in us and the Holy Spirit is speaking to us every minute of every single day. Many times we hear Him and yet, we decide not to listen - happens, yes? Yes!

Yes, I do believe we can "discern" His will for us by reading His Word - but we as human beings choose many times not to listen <><

[Snottitude]

My Pastor just had a couple of sermons on this topic the past 2 weeks. If you'd like to listen to the second one, you can go here:
www.harvestbible.org/Content.aspx?content_id=40
It'll only be up til Saturday night.
Basically, what he believes is that God's has a moral will for us, not an individual will governing life's decisions. God does not have a will for which car you should buy, where you should live, or where you should work. Instead, He has a moral will which will govern the decisions you make in your life. So you won't work at the strip club because it is sinful. You won't buy an SUV because the gas mileage is horrible ;D.
This doesn't mean we are free to do whatever we want. We should study the scriptures and learn what is right and wrong so we can apply it's teachings to real life.
This is not to say that God doesn't have some things planned for our lives. It was God's will that all of us be born and I'm sure there are other events in all of our lives that God has planned. But if you really think about it, if it's God's Will that something should happen, it's going to happen, He is God afterall. And if God wants you to do something, you'd better be sure He's going to make sure you know about it.
So why should we spend so much time toiling over try to figure out what God wants us to do in a specific situation? If the Bible doesn't say something one way or the other and it's not obvious to you or your Christian family what is right, then maybe God doesn't have a specific will for this decision and no matter which decision you make, He use you where you are.
Interesting subject. Thanks for starting it Pietro
[glow=green,3,300]Snotty ;D[/glow]

[Pietro]

I might add that this thinking is what's keeping me going. I pray a lot for guidance and wisdom and still seem to make decisions that turn out badly. Of course, I will never know the outcome of the options I did not choose so as bad as things might seeem I guess they can always be worse.

I remember when I was discerning a vocation. I prayed, "What do you want?" The only answer I seemed to get was the same question right back at me, "What do YOU want?" For me, an even harder question.

I guess an aspect of our free will lends itself to our share in creativity. Within limits we are absolutely free to create our lives as we choose with God's blessing (within his moral will). If God really has a preference on a particular choice it would seem to be up to God to make it clear to us. I think God does have a plan for each of us with some very specific choices to make and it is up to us to be supple and responsive to the movement of the Holy Spirit, but again, I think our only source of certainty is a trust after the fact that God hears our prayers and never fails to answer them, when sincerely offered, in the ways that are best for us and what now is is God's will regardless of what the outcome might look like.

[marysia]

i try hard to believe that there are no wrong outcomes of decisions - even when they appear to be incorrect. that is, if we listen & pray. i have often made choices (with and without prayers unfortunately) and even when it's been (what seem at the time) a poor outcome, i have learned and grown and often times, that immediate negative outcome grows into a positive. it may take days, months or even years but....

i pray for His guidance and grace daily and often times more often throughout the day. sometimes it's so crazy with everything swirling about i don't even have the chance to think - pray or to stop and listen. lately, those times are when, at the end of the day, i feel most at peace with my decisions and with the outcomes. i feel that often we can over think/pray a situation instead of just trusting fully in the Lord. (BTW, i'm NOT saying you can pray too much)

[mark924]

Bump

[babysis]

Hi mark! Welcome to this board. I must tell you, this board is VERY dead. It's rare to see posting on it. If you'd like, many of us that used to be on this board have moved over to this other board and you are more than welcome to join us there.

www.christian-messageboard.com/forums/

[mark924]

babysis said:

Hi mark! Welcome to this board. I must tell you, this board is VERY dead. It's rare to see posting on it. If you'd like, many of us that used to be on this board have moved over to this other board and you are more than welcome to join us there.

www.christian-messageboard.com/forums/

Thank you.