I always felt that if I searched long enough and hard enough, God will magically reveal what He wants me to do with my life and I would know exactly what I was supposed to do in the future and everything will be laid out nicely for me.
We are not meant to ever know God's will for our lives.
I always found that whenever I seek wisdom from trusted companions, pastors, and elders I respect, I always hear the same phrase that I need to find God's will in my life. But I think the truth is we are never meant to ever know God's will for our lives. I feel that God's will isn't some corn maze or some bull's eye target or some mystery that we are supposed to solve.
The truth here is that God is sovereign. He knows exactly what I am going through at the exact moment I start to worry or feel anxious about something. He knows the exact moment when I cry out to him, asking him to show me the way I should go.
The great thing about God is that he knows our sufferings, hardships and worries, and at the same time, He doesn't desire us to be burdened by the act of trying to discover His plans for us ahead of time. God doesn't expect me to figure out His plans or navigate His plans perfectly to reach our end goal. He desires for us to trust him completely in all our twists and turns of life.
An unknown life leads to faith in a known God
And so when we can't figure out what God's plans are for our lives, it's alright. This is when God wants us to trust in Him even more. The fact is, God knows our plans better than we ever will, and His plans for us are the best. In Jeremiah 29 verse 11: For I know what I have planned for you, says the Lord. "I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope".
God doesn't want us to know everything ahead of time what He has planned for us. It would be like reading a very good book, and skipping right to the end to find out what the ending is without reading everything in between. God wants us to do life with him, figure out our plans alongside with Him every single day of our lives. This is the thing that God desires most, a relationship with us that leads to full trust and faith in Him.
God's ultimate plan
God's ultimate plan for us is to trust in Him and not lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3 verses 5-6). In 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18: "In everything, give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus". God wants us to be confident in our decision-making, that is why He gave us free will.
It is also in God's will to make every decision in His name and to glorify Him in everything we do. God made every single one of us unique, blessed with different gifts, talents, abilities, desires and passions to allow us to make a complete decision with what we want to do with our lives. As in Hebrews 13 verse 21: "….equip you with every good thing to do His will, working in us what is pleasing before Him through Christ Jesus".
Therefore our true calling is in this: "That our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfil every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 1 verses 11-12).
Clarissa Yates is from Singapore but moved to live in Perth, Western Australia in 2008. Clarissa completed a BSc. in Molecular Biology at the University of Western Australia and is now working as a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Western Australia, where she is part of a research team studying therapies for lung cancer.
Clarissa Yates' previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/clarissa-yates.html
