What Does God Want?

What does God want you to do? Oh, you know the big stuff. Don’t murder. Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t commit adultery. Those we know, the ones that are the clear right and wrong issues. Now, we don’t always do them, but we do know them. They have been drilled into most of us from Sunday School and VBS years ago.

The ones we have trouble with are the ones that are less clear cut. Sometimes it is a choice between two rights, or good things. Other times it is attempting to make the best of a bad situation. What do we do when we are presented with two excellent job offers or are choosing between two worthwhile charities? For those of us who take our faith seriously, this is still a serious decision. We want to do what is right, even when there is not a wrong decision.

I am one of those who believe that there is a perfect path that God lays out for us. I also believe that I tend to stray off that path on a regular basis and am in need of regular confession to be restored and allowed to salvage what I can from the journey I have messed up. It’s sort of like the time my Dad jackknifed our camper less than 50 miles from home at the start of a coast-to-coast summer vacation. We salvaged a good time from it, but we still had a dent in the rear fender of our station wagon for the whole trip!

I learned a similar lesson almost 20 years ago. I was exploring multiple vocational choices. I desperately wanted to make the correct one. I prayed and agonized over it for as long as I could. God was silent. Well, let me just say that he wasn’t speaking in a way that I was listening. The choices ranged from places in Hawaii to South Carolina, from South Dakota to New Jersey, from Chicago to Kansas. It was a nice, but frustrating position in which to be.

Finally, it dawned on me. What I really wanted from God was for Him to show me the easy path. What he really wanted from me was faithfulness regardless of which path I chose. I didn’t find the easy path. It was a long and uphill journey, but it wasn’t the wrong way because my Savior was with me every step of the way.

In the choice you have to make this day don’t look for the easiest path. Don’t expect God to show you the downhill, smooth, and broad road. Simply know that Christ will travel each path with you if you invite Him along.

Pastor Craig