Not Really Wanting To Know

head_in_the_sand 2Yesterday in Sunday School we studied Acts 21 on how to know the will of God. I shared that if we were totally honest with ourselves, most Christians would admit that they really don’t want to know God’s will. Why? If we know God’s will, then we are without excuse for not obeying it. It is so much easier to deceive ourselves into believing we cannot know God’s will. The Bible teaches us quite differently:

    “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.” (Psalm 143:10)

David is in prayer seeking God’s will for his life. How often do we pray and ask God to teach us His will? Oh we seek God’s guidance when it comes to making career and financial decisions. However, I am speaking of starting out each morning seeking what God would have each of us do with the day He has blessed us.

Most Christians go to God trying to align His will with theirs. We seek God’s endorsement of our plans, knowing we have not sought His guidance in the first place. God does not bless what we will to do; He only blesses that which is His will. Jesus is always our example on how we should live the Christian life and He left many clues when it comes to His Father’s will:

    “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30)

Going back to not really wanting to know God’s will, Jesus explained that if we really want to know God’s desires for our lives, the knowledge is available to us. It is the essence of Biblical wisdom to know God’s will:

    “Jesus answered them and said, ‘My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.’” (John 7:16-17)

If I truly desire to do God’s will I can know it. This is not me saying what I think the Bible is teaching; it is Jesus’ teaching. More importantly, if I am not doing God’s will I may persuade myself that I’m just wrapped up doing my own will. However, it is much worse than that. If I am not doing the Lord’s will, then I am doing the devil’s will:

    “…and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:26)

That may be a tough pill to swallow, but the devil is very adept at camouflaging his intentions. He is the great persuader, convincing us that even though we are stepping out on our own, it’s just me rebelling against God. That may seem bad enough, but Satan has deluded us into not recognizing that we are actually doing his will. His will is that we rebel against God. His will is that we not spread the gospel. His will is that we not serve in our local church. His will is that we not be obedient and joyful with the tithe. The list is endless. He’s been at this a long time and as my pastor is wont to say, “The devil’s the best devil there is.”

    “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?’” (Genesis 3:1)

If Eve knew her Bible, she could have answered, “No, God did not say that.” However, Eve was too busy heading to the mall and thinking about what she was going to make Adam for dinner than to sit down and meditate on God’s Word. Had she done so, she would have immediately recognized Satan’s false teaching.

God desires that we know His will. He left us the Bible to discover it. Instead of approaching our Bible study with the thought of a discipline we must master, why don’t we approach it as a treasure hunt, looking for the obvious clues God has given us?

For far too many of us it is because we really don’t want to know.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2014 David Jeffers

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