How to Understand God’s Will

Recently I received a question from a reader that I thought was an excellent question and worthy of sharing…

“How can we understand about God’s will for us? I’ve been struggling with the feeling that I may have done something out of His plan, and it saddens me so much.”

I think this is something that many of us have wondered about at one time or another.  How do we understand God’s will, and what happens if we feel like we’ve missed it or did something opposed to His will?  This week I’d like to discuss a couple of ways to understand God’s will, and also address what happens if we miss it.

We ALL miss God’s will sometimes…

First let me say, don’t beat yourself up too much if you feel like you’ve done something out of God’s will or plan.  We ALL have “shoulda, coulda, woulda’s”.  I screw up all the time! 🙂 The cool thing I’ve learned is that I can never mess up so much that God can’t fix it or even use it.  God can turn anything around.  I wrote about that in “Mistakes Can Turn Into Success” if you want to see an example in the Bible.  Romans 8:28 says “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”  So if you know you’ve messed up, repent (admit it, apologize and don’t do it again), and then ask God to fix it or work it out to be something good. 

God’s will is in His Word

As for understanding God’s will, I’ve learned that the best way to learn and understand God’s will is by reading the Bible.  His will is in His word.

Romans 12:2 says “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.  Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”  Other versions say “renewing your mind…to discern what God’s will is”.  We renew our mind by reading the Bible.

God’s will or plan will NEVER contradict what the Bible says.  For example, God’s will is never for someone to have an affair because the Bible clearly calls that adultery, which is a sin. Another example is that God’s will is never for somebody to go to hell because God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Unfortunately, I’ve heard both of these examples used as “God’s will”, but they both contradict scripture.

Ask God to show you His will

I’ve also learned that I can ASK God to show me what His will or His plan is.  James 4:2 says, “You have not because you ask not.”  That means if we want something we need to ask for it.  The same can be true when trying to understand God’s will—We just need to ask.

So first I pray (i.e. God, please help me to understand your will and plan in this area…). Then secondly, I just spend some time reading the Bible.  I usually just do this in my regular daily quiet times, and I try to pay attention to anything that stands out.  A lot of times God will answer my question (usually not right away though) in some of the verses I read.

A recent example

A recent example of when I was trying to understand God’s will was when I was trying to deal with a person that had reached out to me for help. I already knew that as a Christian God wanted me to show love and to help them.  However, when I tried to answer their questions and encourage them, this person just kept being extremely hateful, rude, argumentative, and even mocking God.

I still felt really bad for the person though because I felt like they just needed somebody to show them love and help them to understand God’s character and how He works.  I wasn’t sure how to continue with this person, so I prayed about it to try to understand God’s will on how to deal with this person.  Then I kept coming across verses in my reading time that said things about scorners or scoffers, and this person kept coming to mind every time I read those words. I believe that was God trying to show me that this person was being a scorner/scoffer.

““Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.” Proverbs 21:24 (ESV)

Then I kept coming across verses about how to deal with a scorner/scoffer.  The idea of the verses was basically to ignore or cut off scorners/scoffers.  These were a few of the verses that stood out to me…

“Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go out, Even strife and dishonor will cease.” Proverbs 22:10 (NASB)

“Get rid of the one who makes fun of wisdom. Then fighting, quarrels, and insults will stop.” Proverbs 22:10 (NCV)

“Do not associate with a man given to anger; Or go with a hot-tempered man, Or you will learn his ways And find a snare for yourself.” Proverbs 22:24-25 (NASB)

I had the thought, “Maybe I’m supposed to use these verses to know how to deal with this person.”  After reading and thinking about them some more, I was starting to understand God’s will for me in that particular situation.  I think God was trying to tell me that engaging in any kind of conversation, argument, or debate with this person (or others for that matter) is only a trap or snare.  It will make me angry (and angrier) the more I engage, and I will learn this person’s ways (i.e. sink to their level of rudeness, arguing, and/or mockery).  In order to avoid this, God wanted me to just cut this particular person off, to stop engaging with them.

So that’s what I did, and honestly, I’ve had peace about the matter ever since.  I still pray for this person, but I believe that as I was trying to understand God’s will, God showed me that He wanted me to let this person go so that I would stop getting hurt and allow them to be reached in a different way.  I had already played my part, and God had different plans from that point on.  God still loves this person very much.  However, He loves me too, and He wanted to protect me.

All in all, God showed me what to do and how to handle the situation when I asked and as I was reading scripture (and getting ideas or thoughts as I was reading).  I personally think and find that this is the best way to understand God’s will or plan.

Wait for direction

Finally, as a last tip or piece of advice, I’ve also learned that when you don’t know what to do, it’s best to just wait and don’t do anything at all (at least not yet…not until you have a better idea or a peace about the matter).  It’s best just to sit on a matter until you do receive further information, insight, or direction.  

Take Some Practical Steps to Understand God’s Will:

• First, pray and ask God to help you understand and to give you some direction, steps, or strategies.

Remember—You have not because you ask not.  Ask God to give you some ideas and to give you a peace about what to do.  Then listen for His voice.

“The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” Psalm 37:23 (NLT)

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” James 1:5 (NLT)

• Next, spend some time reading the Bible paying close attention to thoughts, ideas, or verses that stand out to you and the things that come to mind when reading them.

You might very well get an answer while you read.  Keep reading too because it will also be confirmed through repetition—like when I saw several verses about scoffers several days in a row, and this person came to mind each time.

“The revelation of Your words brings light and gives understanding to the inexperienced.” Psalm 119:130 (HCSB)

• Then, when you don’t know what to do, just wait. Don’t do anything just yet until you have more direction or peace about what to do.

“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.” Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

• Finally, when you feel like you might have done something in conflict with God’s will, don’t self-condemn. Just admit your mistake to God, apologize, and don’t make the same mistake again.

Also, remember that God can still use your mistakes.

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1 (NLT)

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Romans 8:28 (NLT)

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” Acts 3:19 (NIV)

What are some ways that you have learned to understand God’s will in situations and circumstances in your own life?  Share with us by leaving a comment below.

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If you have benefited from this post or if you know anyone that could benefit from this, please pay it forward and share this post with them via the sharing links below! “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV) 

*Update: Originally posted 3/8/2016