05.11. Finding the Will of God- Gideon
Finding the Will of God-Gideon
Walter Knight told of an old Scottish woman who went from home to home across the countryside selling thread, buttons, and shoestrings. When she came to an unmarked crossroad, she would toss a stick into the air and go in the direction the stick pointed when it landed.
One day, however, she was seen tossing the stick up several times. "Why do you toss the stick more than once?" someone asked. "Because," replied the woman, "it keeps pointing to the left, and I want to take the road on the right." She then dutifully kept throwing the stick into the air until it pointed the way she wanted to go!
Today in the Word, May, 1989.
The search for the will of God may not be a consideration for you but as a child of God it should never, if ever, be far from our minds. Jesus said in Mark 3:35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
We know that it is to be a mindset and a mind focus for us according to Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
OK, preacher, I get the point. You have preached until I am tired of hearing it about doing God’s will and serving Him. Now I have a question, where do I go from here, how do I find the will of God?
I- The Example of Gideon: Judges 6:36-40
Judges 6:36-40 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, 37Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. 38And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. 39And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. 40And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
Gideon asked God for a very specific thing and then he asked God for the direct opposite the next day. God gave Gideon his sign.
Bob Mumford in Take Another Look at Guidance, compares discovering God’s will with a sea captain’s docking procedure: A certain harbor in Italy can be reached only by sailing up a narrow channel between dangerous rocks and shoals. Over the years, many ships have been wrecked, and navigation is hazardous. To guide the ships safely into port, three lights have been mounted on three huge poles in the harbor. When the three lights are perfectly lined up and seen as one, the ship can safely proceed up the narrow channel. If the pilot sees two or three lights, he knows he’s off course and in danger.
God has also provided three beacons to guide us. The same rules of navigation apply—the three lights must be lined up before it is safe for us to proceed. The three harbor lights of guidance are:
1. The Word of God (objective standard) 2. The Holy Spirit (subjective witness) 3. Circumstances (divine providence) Together they assure us that the directions we’ve received are from God and will lead us safely along his way.
- Gregory Asimakoupoulos Bob Mumford, Take Another Look at Guidance.
II- Will of God Will Never Conflict with the Word of God:
Many to day will say God told me to do this or that. I have a new revelation that it is OK to not abide by the Bible on this one. It is alright for me to do something that is forbidden in scripture because God told me it was alright. When the preacher’s car broke down on a country road, he walked to a nearby roadhouse to use the phone. After calling for a tow truck, he spotted his old friend, Frank, drunk and shabbily dressed at the bar. "What happened to you, Frank?" asked the good reverend. "You used to be rich."
Frank told a sad tale of bad investments that had led to his downfall. "Go home," the preacher said. Open your Bible at random, stick your finger on the page and there will be God’s answer."
Some time later, the preacher bumped into Frank, who was wearing a Gucci suit, sporting a Rolex watch and had just stepped our of a Mercedes. "Frank." said the preacher, "I am glad to see things really turned around for you."
"Yes, preacher, and I owe it all to you," said Frank. "I opened my Bible, put my finger down on the page and there was the answer—Chapter 11."
Reader’s Digest, March, 1993, p. 71.
III- Will of God is Not Based on Feelings:
Gideon did not ask God to help him feel like this or that. He asked for a sure clear sign. He did not want to go on well I feel like this. Feeling change each day. A bishop of a century ago pronounced from his pulpit and in the periodical he edited that heavier-than-air flight was both impossible and contrary to the will of God. Oh, the irony that Bishop Wright had two sons, Orville and Wilbur! Wright was wrong. Sure of himself, but wrong.Robert P. Dugan, Jr., Winning the New Civil War, Page 38.
A minister received a call from a church that offered him a salary four times what he was then receiving. Being a devout man, he spent much time in prayer trying to discern what God wanted him to do. One day a friend met the minister’s young son on the street. "Do you know what your dad is going to do?" he asked. "Well," replied the youngster, "Dad’s praying, but Mom’s packing!"
IV- Some Obvious Choices:
Let us now look at what are some obvious choices concerning the will of God for you life. The next layer of God’s will is to find the specifics as you flesh out His will.
1- Live a Pure Life: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 NASB Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more. 2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
2- Use your spiritual gifts for others. Romans 12:5-8 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
3- Respond to the Gospel for salvation- 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.