A passage in the Bible that always makes me feel a little uneasy every time I read it is Matthew 7:21-24:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The key phrase in that passage is “will of my Father”. Now Pastor Hong actually gave a sermon on this very passage a few months ago, and fortunately also went over what exactly it means to do God’s will. Simply, and I quote from him, that fulfilling God’s will means “living a Christ-centered life, obeying all that God has said”.

When I first heard this, a bit of me couldn’t help but wonder why God couldn’t make His will more…you know, specific or tailored for me. Like what if God came to me in a dream and told me specifically to get a job as a ____, marry ____ (or ____ if I prefer), and glorify Him to the world by ______ __ ____, fulfilling His will by obeying all that He has just said? Then maybe I wouldn’t spend so much time concerned in prayer about my future or going back to the Bible hoping to read something that’s more direct to my problems.

But maybe I’m approaching this the wrong way. I may ask myself whether I’m following God’s will when it comes to the big decisions like getting a job or marrying someone, but I’m certainly not asking myself if I’m following God’s will for every single action I make on a day to day basis. You’d go insane if you tried to do this. Maybe the point of prayer and consulting His Word isn’t merely to help make my day to day decisions easier, as if they were nothing but magic 8-balls. Rather, it’s to place my trust in God on a day to day basis and help me be “transformed in the renewal of your/my mind, that by testing you/I may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2).

Life can be such a struggle merely by its spontaneity and the lack of clarity for our future we may feel at times. But I think the living-the-Christ-centered-life part is something all of us will always need to work on. And in doing so, all the while consulting His Word and trying to understand myself better (what are my strengths and weaknesses?; how can I use the gifts that God has given me to make a difference in this world for His glory?), only then will I find more clarity in His will. To end this devotional, here is a prayer from Thomas Merton’s “Thoughts in Solitude” that I found some solace in whenever I was filled with doubt over God’s will for my future:

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

– Thomas Merton

Solomon