fleshing out the will of God

Discovering and embracing God's will invariably brings us to a crisis of belief. And that forces us into faith and action.

Obeying and delighting in God's will leads us to make major adjustments. And that requires us to release and risk - releasing the familiar and risking whatever the future may bring. That's the bottom line of fleshing out God's will.

The longer we walk with the Lord, the more we realise that we really don't know what each new day may bring. A phone call can come in the middle of the night shattering our joy. Suddenly, everything changes. It's amazing what a knock at the door can bring or what the opening of a letter can do.

I don't say these things to conjure up fear in our hearts, but simply to remind us that God alone knows our future. And there's no safer, no better, no more rewarding place to be than in the nucleus of His will, regardless of where that may be.

In spite of all our struggling, there's something within us, down in our redeemed hearts, that craves to know His smile, His rewards, and the joy of following obedience. Nothing can be compared to that. No salary offers it; no money can buy it; no possession can replace it... just knowing we have pleased our Father is sufficient.

God is not running around hiding from us, mocking us, or delighting in keeping us squirming in a dungeon of confusion. In many ways, His will for us emerges very clearly as we go through this process we've been considering. But we do have to be willing to walk by faith, which means doing His will against seemingly insurmountable odds.

We are only finite human beings. We can only see the present and the past. The future is a little frightening to us. So we need to hold onto His hand and trust Him to calm our fears. And at those times when we're stubborn and resisting and God shakes us by the shoulders to get our attention, we're reminded that we don't call our own shots, that God has a plan for us, mysterious though it may seem, and we want to be in the centre of it.

All the risks notwithstanding, that is still the safest place on earth to be.

- Charles Swindoll, The Mystery of God's Will