Part 1 – What Is God’s Will?
The Question We All Ask
At some point, we’ve all wrestled with this question: What is God’s will for my life?
We ask it when making big decisions—Who should I marry? What career should I pursue? Should I take that job offer?—hoping for a clear answer. And when no answer comes, we wonder if God is ignoring us.
But what if we’re asking the wrong question?
What if the problem isn’t that God is silent, but that we’re looking for something He hasn’t promised to reveal?
Two Aspects of God’s Will
The Bible distinguishes between God’s secret will and God’s revealed will.
God’s Secret Will – What We Can’t Know
Some aspects of God’s will are simply unknowable to us. These include the future details of our lives and how all things will unfold in His sovereign plan.
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
(Deuteronomy 29:29)
If God has chosen not to reveal something, it’s because He doesn’t want us to know it yet. And if we’re honest, a lot of our desire to know God’s will is about wanting control—to remove uncertainty, to make life easier. But God calls us to trust Him, even when we don’t have all the answers.
God’s Revealed Will – What We Can Know
So what has God revealed?
1 Thessalonians 4:3 gives us the clearest answer:
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification.”
God’s will for your life isn’t first and foremost about where you live, what job you take, or who you marry—it’s about who you are becoming.
God’s will is your sanctification—that you would grow in holiness, becoming more like Christ.
“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
(1 Peter 1:14-16)
God’s primary concern isn’t where you work, but how you work. It’s not just who you marry, but how you love your spouse. His revealed will is about your obedience, your holiness, and your sanctification.
In the next post, we’ll explore where we can find God’s will—and where we shouldn’t look for it.