The Bible States God's Will for Your Life in Plain Words
Episode 17 of the November series: Providence & Gratitude. Christians spend enormous energy agonizing over "God's will for my life." Here's a liberating truth: the Bible states a huge part of it in plain words — and gratitude is right there in the list.
The anxiety we all know.
What career? Which person should I marry? Should I take the job, move to the city, make the change? We treat "God's will" like a hidden code we have to crack — searching for signs, feelings, open doors, fleeces — terrified we'll miss the one right path.
But read 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
"In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
There it is, stated plainly: giving thanks is the will of God. You want to know God's will? Start here.
The distinction that sets you free.
Reformed theology has always distinguished two senses of "God's will":
God's SECRET (decretive) will — His sovereign plan for what will actually happen. This governs the future, and it is HIDDEN from you. You cannot read tomorrow.
God's REVEALED (preceptive) will — His commands for how He wants you to live. This is PUBLISHED, plainly, in Scripture.
Deuteronomy 29:29 draws the line exactly: "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us... that we may do all the words of this law."
Here's the problem: most "finding God's will" anxiety is an attempt to decode the SECRET will (which specific future God has decreed) before we're willing to act. But that will is secret — it's God's business. We are responsible only for the REVEALED will, which He has told us plainly.
And Scripture states the revealed will outright, repeatedly.
God does not leave His will obscure. He says it directly:
— "This is the will of God, even your sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
— "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God" (1 Thessalonians 5:18)
— "So is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence... foolish men" (1 Peter 2:15)
— "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed... that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Romans 12:2)
Notice the pattern: the published will of God is overwhelmingly about CHARACTER and CONDUCT — be holy, do good, be transformed, give thanks — not about which of two good options to pick.
So what about decisions?
This doesn't mean decisions don't matter or that God is uninvolved. It means you make decisions by WISDOM — Scripture, prayer, godly counsel, sanctified reason, circumstances read humbly — and you trust the sovereign God to direct your steps: "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps" (Proverbs 16:9); "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart... and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Between two lawful options, either can be chosen in faith. There is no secret "one right choice" you're failing to find and about to miss. (Kevin DeYoung's little book "Just Do Something" is the classic popular treatment.)
The freedom in this.
Stop straining to decode the future. God is far less mysterious about His will than we make Him. He has already told you most of it: be holy, do good, and give thanks.
Which means you don't have to resolve your biggest open question to be squarely in God's will TODAY. You can be anxious about your career and your relationships and your next move — and still, right now, step directly into the will of God by doing the part He's already revealed.
Give thanks today, and you are already walking in the will of God. You're not waiting to find it. For gratitude, He's already shown it to you.
This is episode 17 of the 30-day November series. Tomorrow: Daniel kept giving thanks to God even after it was made illegal.
📖 Passages: Deuteronomy 29:29, Psalm 32:8, 143:10, Proverbs 3:5-6, 16:9, Micah 6:8, Matthew 7:21, John 7:17, Romans 12:1-2, Ephesians 5:15-20, Colossians 1:9-10, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, 5:16-18, Hebrews 13:20-21, 1 Peter 2:15, 4:1-2, 1 John 2:17