Discerning God's Will
Some of you have been in this place before - or maybe you are there now - standing at the doorstep of a major decision. Maybe even one that will bring a dramatic change to your life and your family. My Grandpa Braschler shared something with me about discerning God’s will that I will never forget. He said, “As I search for God’s will in my life, I have promised Him two things: That when He opens a door for me to walk through, I will walk with courage and trust Him fully. And when He closes a door, I won’t stand there and bang on it.”
“The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”
In my own faith journey, I have made it a priority to seek Godly wisdom through prayer before making major or difficult decisions. But if I am honest, there have been times where I have wanted to do something, and I stood at that door and knocked and knocked, but it was never opened to me. Other times, I’ve stood at an open door, paralyzed with fear of the unknown.
During my senior year of college, I received a call from a church in Wichita, KS, which was my hometown. They were looking for a youth pastor and asked if I would consider coming on staff. This was really an ideal situation, because both my wife’s and my parents lived in Wichita. Our plan had been all along to move back there after school.
We began to pray together about this decision, but almost as though it was a given that this was supposed to happen. But as we came to God with this opportunity, we were surprisingly met with a closed door. The opportunity was there, but in our spirit we knew that God had closed the door. I’ll be honest with you, I stood there and banged on it for weeks before finally realizing that for some reason, this was not supposed to happen.
We turned down the opportunity out of faith that God had something else in store for us. At that point, it was unclear what that was. My only other option at the time was continue to manage the restaurant. It was another year before I got a call from Simmons and the opportunity to be a “Chicken Chaplain”. I am so thankful we trusted the Lord, but it was a challenging season to wait for the door to open.
In the moment, it is hard to grasp God’s will sometimes. But now that years have passed since then, I look at where we are now and see why that door was shut. I would have never ended up at Simmons, and found a position (I still can’t believe I get paid to do this!) that allows me to use my gifts and passion and love for people. Now I look back, and I am so thankful that the first door was closed.
Here’s a few thoughts to reflect on this week:
What decisions in your life are ahead of you?
How will you discern what God’s will or plan is for you?
How will you respond if you come to a decision and find that the door is closed? Will you continue banging on the door?
What if you come to a decision and you find that it is wide open, but there are so many unknowns? Will you respond with fear or find courage and trust in God?
In the decisions you are making at work, are you seeking God's wisdom and direction?
Can you imagine what would our company look like if we sought after the will of God in every major business decision?
Whatever is in front of you right now, God can be trusted with it. I want to encourage you to go to Him with your decisions and future plans today. As you pray, open your hands and release the things (titles, control…whatever it is for you) and simply trust Him with it. I can promise you a few things: 1) He is trustworthy; 2) Your shoulders will drop and you’ll be able to finally take a deep breath; 3) He will give you clarity and wisdom as you discern His will for whatever decision is in front of you today.
“When the Lord makes it clear you’re to follow Him in this new direction, focus fully on Him and refuse to be distracted by comparisons with others.”