1 Samuel 3:15?18 (17)
A young boy Samuel is faced with a dilemma. He just had a weird dream – repeatedly, it was a message from God. Then the boy was confronted by his guardian who he didn’t know whether to fear or respect. His intimidating guardian upon hearing the dream told him to do whatever he thought best. How was the boy to know what was best?
Walter Houston faced the same problem. As his family mourned his passing they remembered him as a devote Christian. For seventy years he had waited for God to show him clearly what he should do with his life.
He prayed a lot but just never seemed to get the answer. He wife Ruby said, “Sometimes he thought he heard God’s voice, but then he wouldn’t be sure, and he’d start the process all over again.”
Walter never figured it out. He finally became content with continually praying to know God’s will for his life. He didn’t want to disappoint God or ever go against God so he did nothing. Like so many in the church, he was paralyzed by insecurity, indecision, and inaction.
(Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God’s Will or How to Make a Decision without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc. (Chicago: Moody, 2009), 53, 54)
According to Augustine doing the will of God, doesn’t begin with an act of the will, or in a new and better decision, but through learning to love God with your whole being. It is expressed better in 1 John 2:5. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. This is the will of God.
ByDr. Gayle Woods