Knowing God’s Will – Acts 22:12-15

Wednesday, I brought up Ananais’ statement that Paul had been chosen by God with the purpose that he should know the Lord’s will.

By the study of these words alone, it’s impossible to determine exactly what it was that he meant.

Certainly, it didn’t mean that God was going to give Paul a detailed outline of what was going to take place during the rest of his earthly life.

He wasn’t going to have a road map in his glove compartment which would tell him miles in advance

where he was supposed to turn, with whom he was supposed to visit,

and where he was supposed to stop.

I think that this was probably a declaration that the Lord was going to reveal to Paul things about the saving of the Gentiles and the building of the Lord’s churches.

I think that it was a statement that the Lord was going to reveal a few new doctrines to this special Apostle.

But it does open the door to thoughts about God’s will for each of our personal lives.

Last weekend hurricane Katrina smashed into the Gulf coast, & it has changed the lives of millions of people.

And I mentioned on Wednesday how that hurricane has already had an impact on my life.

I needed to buy airlines tickets to South Carolina, and I’ve been putting it off for several reasons.

When Katrina swept across the Gulf of Mexico and into Louisiana and Alabama, it whipped out as much as 25% of America’s oil and gas production.

In just a couple of days, the price of my airlines ticket went up $150.00 each.

If I had only known what was about to happen, I could have booked earlier and saved a lot of money.

But my loss is nothing compared to the loss of thousands of others who didn’t comprehend what Katrina could do to them.

All of the residents of New Orleans were encouraged to evacuate,

but many of them did not realize what danger they were putting themselves in staying there;

they stayed, and many of them have died.

If only they had known, or if they had obeyed what they knew, some of them could have been spared.

Ananias told Paul that he was going to know the will of God.

At least a part of that knowledge involved events that would take place in his life.

But the revelation of those things would not be given in one lump sum.

Knowledge of God’s will has been divvied up to be dispensed throughout our lives.

What must I do to know the will of God?

First we must realize that there are conditions for knowing God’s will and having God’s guidance.

If there was really bad fog on the highway between Spokane and Post Falls,

and you called the airport asking them to download to your computer a printout of the radar fog report,

they would probably tell you that even if they had the technology to do that,

radar information was for special people only.

If you called the White House and asked for a detailed description of the President’s schedule for the next week, you’d not only not get it, but you’d probably be put on the FBI’s most watched list.

There aren’t too many people in world who can expect to know God’s precise will.

People worthy of guidance are only those who are already walking in guidance & willing to be guided.

The only people worthy of knowing God’s will are those who yearn to be in the center of God’s will for His sake and glory.

In other words, some people are simply not worthy of God’s leadership.

I say that not being mean or bigoted – its because of their own actions.

The men who betrayed, beat, condemned and crucified the Saviour certainly had no right to know God’s will.

Can you picture the priests asking Lord’s guidance before storming Gethsemane?

If they had been told God’s will would they have obeyed God’s will?

And when Saul was going about to arrest and bring the saints of Damascus bound to Jerusalem, he had no right to know the will of the Lord.

No Christ-rejecting sinner is worthy of Christ’s piloting.

Wilful disobedience necessitates the withdrawal of the blessings of the Lord, not their enhancement.

Have you ever gotten a telephone solicitor who in his insincere attempt to be friendly began the conversation by asking, “Hey, what ya doing?”

What right does that complete stranger have in asking about my activities?

I’m not even happy when my friends and relatives begin a phone conversation like that.

I realize that it’s not quite the same thing, but there’s something parallel to that in James 4.

“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

The Lord is not going to share his will with anyone who is not His friend.

Are you worthy of the guidance of God?

Parallel to worthiness is the idea of willingness.

Neither God nor anyone else in the world is interested in wasting his or her breath.

The Lord is not going direct someone, or reveal his will to someone who time and time again replies, “Thanks anyway, but I think that I’ll go my own way.”

There must be a true desire for the will and leadership of God, before there is going to be any divine leadership.

Let’s turn to Genesis 24:1-28.

This is one of the best illustrations of divine leadership that we might find in the Word of God.

Think about this servant of Abraham – Eliezer or whatever his name was.

He had a very imperfect vision of who he was supposed ask marry Isaac, so he so prayed.

He asked God if a test might not be appropriate, and he was willing to accept whatever that test revealed.

There are many people who pray, “Lord, I want to know your will,”

but what they really mean is “Lord, I’ll entertain your suggestions now.”

The steps to knowing God’s will are: ask, expect an answer, and then be prepared to follow that will.

And by the way, it doesn’t necessarily have to be in that order.

Perhaps it should be: I’m ready to obey you Lord, direct me.

Then there’s something else that is often overlooked – prior walking in God’s will.

Eliezer had just traveled several hundred miles in obedience to the Lord and his master.

He had proved that he was worthy of direction.

When Saul was struck to the ground, blinded and the voice of God was echoing in his ears, he said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do.”

The people who can expect to know the will of God are those whose feet are well-practiced in obeying the will of God.

Most people, including most professing Christians, do what comes naturally,

and then when they get into trouble, they cry out,

“Lord what is your will in this matter.”

That is about as bad as asking for a dispensation from the Pope to commit murder and mayhem.

The time to ask the Lord for His will, is when we are already in the pathway of obedience and duty.

Otherwise it might be better to ask the Lord for His opposition rather than His will.

Remember wicked Balaam?

He prayed, “Lord what is your will for this people of Israel?”

But he didn’t really want God’s will for Israel.

He wanted it to change so that he could pocket some change.

The only way to have sweet glorious friendly guidance from God is to be obedient to the will which God has already revealed.

And as a result Balaam ended up dead.

Think about the manner of God’s guidance.

God usually leads just one step at a time.

He coaxes us to read His will way we teach kids to how to read English.

We don’t give a 6-year-old a copy of “Moby Dick” or “Pride and Prejudice.”

We use books that most adults think are ridiculous, simple and full pictures.

It takes ten times as much paper to print a child’s book than an adult short story of the same length.

But this is how God leads us, with only a few rare exceptions.

So we do the duty which is immediately in front of us, and then the next and the next.

There once was young man with a job which he didn’t like, so he began wondering if the Lord was calling him to preach.

But he was a man as poor in his Christian service as he was at his secular job.

He didn’t tithe, read God’s word, teach, invite people to the services or attend regularly himself.

No, God is not going to tell that man that it was His will for him to preach the Word.

Disobedience is the fog which makes us crash into the car in front of us on the freeway.

Let’s go back to Eliezer.

This servant prayed for God’s guidance and got it; he found the one Isaac was to marry.

But there was no miracle, supernatural voice, burning bush, or glorious appearing.

By any ordinary standard Rebekah looked like any other girl.

Perhaps there were a hundred girls going to wells in and around Haran that day.

Yet this devout servant prayed and received God’s guidance by a simple, common act.

Paul on the other hand already had his burning bush experience and had seen the glorious appearance of God.

But for the most part, from here on out, the will of the Lord would be revealed in short, unspectacular ways.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, is one of the most important ports on the eastern coast of North America.

It’s not the most commodious seaport, and Halifax is not the largest or richest city in the coast.

But it is closer to Europe than any other major port on this continent.

Throughout both the First and the Second World Wars that harbor was jammed with as many as a hundred-fifty ships.

That doesn’t sound like much, until you see a picture of that harbor.

And it gets even more interesting when you see the narrow lane between two mountains that the ships must pass to enter the harbor.

It must have been a terrifying task for pilots to take their ships into that port, especially at night.

But it was made simple by properly lining up three tiny lights.

When the captain or pilot put those three lights into their proper relationship there was no danger at all in sailing even wooden ships into Halifax harbor.

Likewise, there are three ingredients in knowing God’s will.

First, God speaks by his Word – He never contradicts the scripture.

Then He speaks by circumstances:

For example, if something is impossible, then generally, it is not His will that we do it.

As we commonly say, sometimes the Lord simply opens or shuts doors.

Then lastly He speaks by the Holy Spirit deep down in the heart of the child of God.

And then just for good measure, God often guides by way of the common sense that He created in a person.

God can control the thoughts of his people, just as much as he can the hearts of the King.

And when those people are committed to doing the will of the Lord in the first place, then it will be no problem at all.

But very seldom does the Lord lead by way some miraculous sign.

A third thing that I’d like you see is that God’s guidance is worthy of special praise.

We North Americans are simply too, too secular, no matter who we are.

The servant of Abraham was quick to open his mouth to praise the Lord for His guidance.

That in itself is a rebuke to us tongue-tied, shame-faced Baptists.

When was the last time you built an Ebenezer? “Hitherto hath Lord helped me.”

When was the last time you considered that the Lord may leading you?

When was the last time you thanked the Lord for leadership that He had already given?

Have you ever had the privilege of climbing a tall Mountain peak and looking back down the trail?

Sometimes that can be just as exciting as the climb itself.

Someday when we stand before the Saviour the words of Moses will come to mind:

“Thou shalt remember all the way by which Lord thy God hath led you.”

We’ll look back on green pastures and valleys and even the valley of the shadow of death

And then we’ll know what we only believe now :

The Lord does go before those who desire and seek his perfect will.

The Lord and His word are a “lamp unto our feet and a light unto path.”

Then we’ll say with all our hearts “I being in way, the Lord led me.”