Discerning God's Will

One thing that's been frustrating to me lately is the number of conversations I've had with people… a great number of people… about how they are figuring out what God wants for their lives. It's been good because it has forced me to think more deeply about how we are to figure out what God wants for our lives. When we look at Scripture, the answer is pretty varied. First, here's the frustrating way people try to discern God's will.

People ask God to create situation A or B in their lives and figure out what God wants based upon what is brought up. If A comes up, then it must not be something God wants, but if B comes up, then it is the will of God. We'll entitle this situation-based determining. It's a way of figuring out what God wants that makes things indubitably clear. People then know exactly what God wants without having to hear his voice clearly or… arguably, let their emotions get in the way. There is some Scriptural precedent with situation-based determining. The two primary examples that come to mind are Gideon with the fleece, who laid it out on the ground at night and told God to leave it dry and the ground damp, then leave the fleece wet and the ground dry and in that way knew for sure that God was the one leading him into battle. The other is the disciples after the ascension of Jesus who cast lots to decide who God wanted to be the replacement for the 12th disciple and it fell to Matthias.

But this way of figuring out what God wants is potentially very destructive. I've watched it destroy people. A couple of factors contribute to the problem. One is that it forces people to put all their eggs in one basket. Whether something is God's will comes down to a single situation and if that situation occurs just right, then the person determines that it is God's will and lives as if that is true - confident because it is so clear. But the problem is that if they are wrong, then they have a ton of confidence that something is God's will when it is not. They become confident that their own sin is what God wants. That's messy. People choose this way of determining because it is easy then to see what God wants… or at least, to think one sees what God wants. People believe that if they ask God to show them their will this way that He just will. That's a lie. God does not act in accordance with our will, but in accordance with his. When people use situations to determine God's will, they frequently live their lives as a product of the circumstances around them, life circumstances determine actions. It prevents obedience to Jesus because they are assuming their circumstances show them what God wants instead of letting God show them what he wants. Sometimes we aren't supposed to go through open doors. Sometimes closed doors are there so we can use the power of God to break them down and walk through.

The spiritual precedents noted previously are easily dealt with. Gideon already heard from God before he asked God to prove Himself. Presumably the apostles were led to determine God's will before the casting of lots. More importantly for both is that lots and fleece are inanimate objects. They aren't people. Situation-based determining almost always involves people. People ask God to make certain people to act in a certain way, and then from that determine his will. The problem is that people have free will. What if the people choose to act in a way that is different than what God wants? What if God allows people the freedom to act how they choose to and the situations come up not because God wants them, but because people acted in such a way as to cause them? God doesn't mess with free will, but doesn't seem to have a problem with manipulating moisture on the ground and with fleece nor ordaining the way that lots fall. When we ask God to create situations, we are often asking Him to manipulate free will and force people to act in a certain way. That's an illegitimate request. It won't be honored.

I believe that the best way to figure out God's will is not as clear cut, but can be clear and is much safer than situation-based determining. We are to listen and hear from God directly. Circumstances of life are not something that we should use to decide what God wants. We are to use our relationship with God to determine what God wants. We are called to be conversational with the saving Lord of our lives. I think God wants us to know him so intimately, his voice so deeply that we hear what He wants. I think that situation-based determining, despite the nicety of its simplicity, is unhelpful, misleading, destructive, and unintentionally arrogant and sinful.

What's Scripture tell us about this? Jesus, talking about himself metaphorically says, "…. My sheep know my voice." If we are of Christ, then when He calls, as a shepherd calls His sheep, we will know his voice, able to distinguish it from all the other voices that are calling in our lives. We are able to distinguish His voice that we may follow the direction of the voice and arrive where God is already. It's not some strange testing of God or making a nonconsensual deal with Him about how we're going to evaluate just what He wants. As we cultivate this relationship and walk closely to the shepherd, His voice grows more loud and more clear.

Romans 12:2 tells us that in order to test and approve what God's amazing will is for our lives, we must first be transformed by the renewing of our mind. It does not say we should tell God to coerce situation A or B, but that as we are perfected and transformed his will is more easily determined by us. Conformation to the world looks like determining what we should do based upon what happens around us. Transformation looks like living in God's will regardless of life circumstances. One step is to become more like Christ in mind and then be given the capacity to test whether or not something is God's will.

In our beautiful new testament stories of believers in Jesus Christ, we find many people being directly guided by God. Joseph was guided on his next move by dreams in which the angel of the Lord appeared to Him and told him which direction to go. Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. God spoke to Cornelius in a dream about how he was to respond to Paul. God came to Paul and told him directly what to do. The Spirit simply wouldn't let Paul and his friends enter Bithynia. Paul was compelled by God to enter Jerusalem and warned by the Spirit that things would be difficult wherever he went and preached the news of Jesus. It beautiful, clear, specific, and deeply relational.

As we consider and think about how some of the great followers of YHWH in the OT heard from God what their next move should be, what we don't see is them telling God to do A if that's what is His Will, but not to do B. At least not with people. Angels of the Lord were sent down to Abraham multiple times. God told him specifically what to do through dreams. Moses was spoken to through a burning bush and then communed in the very presence of YHWH himself. Isaac physically wrestled with God. Prophets had clear visions. David had those prophecies. Noah had specific directions. These people did not discern God's will by fabricating rules about situations. They did not participate in situation-based determining, but listened to God and heard His voice. God speaks. God knows how to speak to us in ways that are clear and specific. God longs to speak to us directly, that we may have two way communication with Him - that we may have a real relationship with Him. We don’t have to concoct terms for discerning God's will. Just listen patiently, pursue our question's answer, and live by what we already know to be true. If we trust God to guide us, God will guide clearly, as clearly as a pillar of fire at night.

When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. - Jesus in John 16:13-14.

My Life Without: Day 3

Last night was pretty funny. An inebriated mexican came in and laid down next to me, then he started swearing a lot in English with a drunken accent 3/4 mexican, 1/4 south minneapolis, reacting with those same 5 swear words to anyone who told him to shut up. Funny... if you were there. Then he was quiet for a little bit and commenced singing en espanol what seemed like a love song in this loud drunken mexican voice. He's keeping everyone in the place awake. As he was lying down he was doing dramatic hand motions, a la an opera singer. The guy next to me says, "Man I wish I had a video camera." I wish I did too. Then I'd put it on YouTube. And you'd all laugh.

I woke up really tired. At first I wondered why, but then I realized that I haven't slept anywhere near enough over the last four nights. I was thinking about getting up early, but kept collapsing back down on my pillow. When I finally got up, I think it was 6:00 AM. I walked around for a while and then found my way back to the community college/technical college/university of minneapolis. I think that's all the names it has. There I read some scripture and had a strange accidental nap where I dreamt that I woke up in the FTC house with Nate and Nate and I rode on a banshee, he drove while I held on with one hand and we went through fields while I grabbed flowers as we flew by. The I woke up back in the college, shocked that I was still in Minneapolis. Both sad that I wasn't home and excited that I was still there. This opened something up in me, however. After that I told God that I didn't want to be here a week, but as long as He wanted me here. I just asked that He would guide me and lead me so that I was here for the amount of time He has allotted. Then I made my way to Mary's to get some breakfast. Throughout most of the day, I imagined what it would look like to stay for two weeks. The relationships that I could build would be awesome and I would probably get a much better idea of what homelessness looked like. I hung out around town, then went to the library to do some internet use, and then reading/praying/listening to God. Cool stuff. After that I left to hang out with Steve Wiens. I let him buy me a meal because I had to skip one at Mary Jo's to spend time with him. Everything was pretty chill. Honestly, I am quite surprised by how easy it is to find food and shelter as a homeless person. The life itself is not difficult in terms of survival. Getting out of it probably is, but I do still think that it would not take much for me to get out of it, just some motivation and the willingness to put forth the effort to get out. There are some homeless that because of a condition probably cannot escape it. There are some who are in it temporarily, and that is understandable. But ultimately it's a condition of sin that needs healing in the same manner as other sins by the forgiveness and power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Later on that day, something surprising occurred. After walking away from my meeting with Steve to find some people to hang with, I felt the strong sense in my spirit that this was over. I argued against it for a while. I really wanted to see this through a week at least and there was much I wanted to do yet. I prayed through it. I called a friend and he prayed for me. I asked God why, and it felt like he said there's work to do in the Eau C. So, I'm back. Kind of sad. Very surprising, but I feel a deep peace about it. I'm excited to be here too. I really enjoyed my time there however. I'm really excited to go back and love people from a different spot. May God be with the area. May God go there and move in people's hearts. May we find the field ripe for harvest. May we be healed, prepared, equipped, prayerful, confident, peaceful, gentle, bold, full of love for God and others, and filled with the Holy Spirit - ready to live in proper relation to God by letting Him flow through us into the world.

My Life Without: Some Things I'm Learning

1. This really has been the #1 thing. I don't think the best place to minister to the homeless is from the same place that they're at. I don't think it's true for anybody, and certainly, I have been designed to minister from a place of health, as one who's pulling others up - from homelessness, from chains, from unbelief, from pain, from sin.

2. I knew this, but it's hit me hard. I need to minister in a community. I don't do well on my own. I feel like I should be the type of person who is capable of ministering alone, but I don't. Perhaps I should be. Perhaps I will be. Quite a few days left.

3. I don't like being the social outcast. As a homeless person, I am. Some people sit in the background, I'm brought out by others to the foreground and mocked.

4. The culture here is way different. I have connected well with a lot of homeless people in Eau Claire at the free clinic, under the bridge, on the street, and at my house. This is different. Even just the dialect differences can make communication extremely difficult for me. I don't know what the heck people are saying, especially when they have a lot of vodka in them.

5. Homeless shelters should have a list of local homeless shelters and what they provide to hand out to people. In addition, these lists should have maps of the local streets and where stuff is at. I spent a night on the street and two days without food because I didn't have anything like this. Neon lights aren't a bad idea either.

6. Volunteers are generally loved. Not always, but most people take very well to them and appreciate what they're giving them. It's like an english professor giving you compliments on a paper, a pro football player offering to help you improve your skills, a rich person volunteering to give you sincere help on how to make more money. The person receiving the food (or whatever) feels privileged.

7. People need a step-up, they all seem to think that they need a step up. For each person it's different. One person thinks he needs transportation, another to be given a job. The problem, however, is not a lack of resources, but a lack of motivation and desire. They want the wrong things. Pretty typical human issue. Honestly, even at the place I'm at, just a bed for a night, I'm pretty sure that in a couple of weeks I could get a job and in a month to a month and a half be out of there. I have the motivation. I have the ability to dream bigger. I have the determination. Again we find it's not the external, but the internal that is the primary causes of the problem. May God come through and defeat sin, defeat Satan.

8. Homelessness is not a bunch of people that need jobs. It's the result of so many other social issues. Employment options. Mental Illness. Alcoholism. Drugs. Gangs. Social Pressure. Wrong Beliefs About Self. Family Inheritance. Lie-pervaded Christianity. Love Himself needs to come and shine throughout every aspect of the city. I've asked Him to come, and He says He's on His way. Anyone wanna join Him with me?

My Life Without: Day 2 (Tuesday)

Today I ate. Good news. I ended up waking up at Salvation Army at 4:30 AM. So I didn't get as much sleep as I had hoped. It was still comparatively amazing. I walked to the library, found out it didn't open until 10 AM, went the the Community College Library, which blows, did a little bit of reading, then left and got my first meal from "Mary Jo's Place" aka Sharing and Caring Hands. People just call it "Mary's" though. It was delicious. Then I went to the Mpls library and got on the computer, found some other places to eat, and wrote the stuff I put on the blog. Then I went down to Mary's and got another meal - yeah baby. Having a lot of energy I went on a trek to find Hard Times Cafe. It took over an hour for me to find the place. It's probably a 45-60 minute walk taking a more direct route to my place. It's pretty trendy. Racy'sesque, but a little nicer because the decor comes together a little bit better. There weren't any homeless people there, at least none that seemed to be homeless. Speaking of which, all homeless people have money. I don't know where they get it, I should find that out, but I don't have any money. From what I've seen, not all of them beg. I actually went and sat in Hard Times Cafe without buying anything.

Life feels easy again already. Weird huh? I kind of wish something would happen that would make it more difficult here. Other than my feet being absolutely disgusting (I'm waxing them in my sister's crap when I get back to the Eau C), life isn't too shabby. I have food, I have shelter, and the coffee at Mary's isn't horrible. I'm even able to access the internet. Cool beans. One thing that hasn't happened is great conversations. Every attempt I make at having a conversation is usually cut at the point of intimacy and trust. The conversations have mostly been forced, awkward, and goal oriented. I'll keep trying. And try harder.