A warning right at the beginning: Those who expect a simple answer to the question “How do I know God’s will?” will be disappointed by the following article.

What does God want?

There are no instructions, no prescription, although the question has quite practical significance. The question of God’s will for me can cause conflicting feelings. This has to do with our image of God and our experience.

• Is God a demanding God whom I must satisfy?
• Is God a lawgiver who has set up laws that we humans must obey without criticism?
• Or, freed by God’s grace, do we stand in a new life, which we now want to shape ourselves with this question?

Making faith concrete

We can learn a lot from the Bible for our everyday life. Nevertheless, there are countless situations in life for which there is no direct or comprehensive answer in the Bible. For some, that seems scary. But we can also see the lack of concrete answers to this or that question as an opportunity to take a closer look at our life questions and the Bible.

Those who think of the Bible as a recipe book for a flawless life will have to get used to the fact that life is usually improvised. Or if you think of the Bible as a timetable with reliable train connections, you will discover that individual routes are noted, but not always all connections. So you will have to talk to other travelers, maybe get off here and there, and ask people who know the place so that you can make progress on your own life’s journey. Those who have a destination in mind will then simply choose the next connection. One could imagine a congregation as a traveling party that regularly consults with each other along the way about the next leg of the journey.

What does God want from me? This is not only the question of the next step, but also the question of the destination. Pursuing this question makes faith concrete. It is the question of how faith can be anchored in our lives. It’s about relevance to one’s own lived life. It is not about religious duty, but it would be borne by a living relationship with God. It is not a matter of cadaver obedience, but of active engagement. This is life-affirming, life-enhancing, and meets the demands of a complex world.

Are there any specific statements about God’s will in the Bible? Yes, there is. However, I will be careful not to make a list of statements here. Not only would it be incomplete, but it would also distract from the goal of this article. The goal here is not to formulate the answers, but to show how you can gain answers yourself.

Text in context

What is written in the Bible always has meaning. We can learn something from each side. However, all statements are in their own context. The context determines the meaning and the scope. When I seek answers for today, I should always ask: Is this context meant for today? Some statements are universal – and I will find them everywhere in the Bible – but other statements are clearly only attributable to a particular time, or meant only for a particular group. It is usually easy to tell from the context.

The instructions from God for the people of Israel, for example, were never given to any other people. Thus, a large part of the Bible deals with Israel. At that time, God simply let the other nations go their own way (Acts 14:16). The fact that something is written anywhere in the Bible is therefore no reason to immediately apply it to one’s own life. God does not do that, and neither should we. We may apply the simple rules of inductive Bible study and need not jump to conclusions.

Think, for example, of the 10 Commandments. Undoubtedly, these commandments are good. It is equally clear that these commandments were given exclusively to Israel to keep (Ex 19). The 10 Commandments, of course, do not stand alone. There are many other commandments and prohibitions given to the people of Israel in the five books of Moses. If you insist on keeping the 10 commandments, then you must consequently keep the rest of the 614 commandments and prohibitions that should be contained in the 5 books of Moses.

Reading the text in context – this should also somewhat expose selective perception. It should help us see more clearly what is specifically for us today.

What is valid today?

So, in order to find answers to questions, one should not simply open the Bible in any place, but one could proceed specifically. For example, one might ask where it speaks of today’s community. Then you could look for answers there. This is better than quoting arbitrary passages from the Bible.

Of course, one can also follow a particular theme throughout Scripture, and often see a progression. This is excellent for getting to a deeper understanding. For the initial question of this article, however, we must always consciously ask: What does God want today? With the “today” begins the differentiation of the question that is relevant for me. If I understand what God wants today, I am more likely to be able to answer the question of what God wants from me today.

To the church in Thessalonica Paul writes:

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification.”
1Th 4:3

All clear? The statement seems to be unambiguous. But what does the apostle mean here by “sanctification”? And with what intention and against what background did he write this? Quoting a biblical text is not the same as understanding that text in context. Even when “unambiguous” statements are quoted, they should first be interpreted in context. Jumping to conclusions is nowhere appropriate.

Religious zeal

What does God want from me? There are many opinions. Not only are there opinions, but also rigid and problematic expectations within communities. It can become a religious zeal that manifests itself in pious works and expectations. This does not have much to do with the Bible and God’s will.

I can always be self-critical here: What am I doing and why am I doing something specific? We can freely choose to do or not do something because we are convinced that it is valuable to us. That is then our own decision. However, it is not necessarily what God wants from us. It would only be something that we ourselves want. You can question that. Thus, in some circles, there is a firm expectation that a real Christian holds at least fifteen minutes of “quiet time” every morning, for prayer and Bible reading. In fact, this is very valuable. But there is no biblical instruction for this. It’s more of a culture that you cultivate. To reflect daily is good and healthy (cf. e.g. Psalm 1). But when it becomes a duty, and decides, so to speak, whether one is a “real” Christian or not, this attitude can put people under tremendous pressure. We then quickly end up with legalism, with religious zeal.

In Colossians 2, Paul speaks at length about how religious zeal can also spread in the church. Of this religious zeal and its excesses, Paul says bluntly that they are “of no value except to gratify the flesh” (Col 2:23). It is a self-chosen piety that has nothing to do with understanding God’s will.

We must learn to distinguish between religious zeal on the one hand and God’s will on the other. The Word of God helps us to do this. “For the word of God is living, efficacious, and more cutting than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints as well as marrow; it is judge of the reasoning and thoughts of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). We must learn to “examine what is essential” (Phil 1:9).

Moving from concept to application

And what if I can’t find a direct answer to a specific question in the Bible? Then I can proceed in a different way. There are general concepts and basic rules that – if we learn to recognize and understand them – will help in a concrete way. For example, this is true in relation to relationships, friendships, marriage, work, church, etc. In the Bible, these concepts are often explained by examples, or developments can be traced that show how a concept can have an effect.

Graphically, you could represent it something like this:

This is the crux of the matter: the answers are often not given, but have to be found. The concept may be clear, but applying it in one’s own life requires reflection and sometimes courageous decisions based on the knowledge gained.

God wants us to test

Understanding God’s will is a privilege of believers, but this does not involve a fixed set of laws, rather it is a growing in the knowledge of God. So Paul writes to the church in Rome:

“I now pronounce upon you, brethren (in view of God’s compassion instructions), to provide your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (as your consequential worship), and not to adjust yourselves to this eon, but to be transformed by the renewal of your mind. so that you may be able to test what is the will of God, which is good, pleasing and perfect”.
Rom 12:1-2

Here we see that Paul provides two things: We are to test what the will of God is, and through this a progressive discernment takes place. So we should be active ourselves and expect our knowledge to be constantly expanded.

It is about a transformation of our self, and a renewal of our thinking. As we are blessed by God, so may this blessing work out in our lives. It may grow into a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). We should not disregard the time it takes. It’s all dynamic. We are in the process of becoming; so is our cognition.

That is why black-and-white thinking is of no help here. We should not condemn (but judge) others, nor should we jump to conclusions about ourselves (cf. 1 Cor. 4:3). But we are to encourage one another to walk in the way of the Lord (Phil 3:15-17). Paul prays that believers may have enlightened eyes of the heart, so that we may know God and discern what He has in mind for us (Eph. 1:15-20). To know God’s will, according to Paul’s words, has a positive increase in it. He calls it the good, the pleasing, and the perfect knowing of God’s will.

Knowing God’s Will

Knowing God’s will is a progressive knowing. The Danish philosopher and theologian Søren Aabye Kierkegaard coined the saying:

“It is true what philosophy says that life must be understood backwards. But this makes us forget the other sentence: that we must live forward.”
Søren Aabye Kierkegaard

If we want to live forward, we must actively ask questions, actively deal with this time and with God’s will. That this is possible lies in God’s “yes” to us, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus. In contrast to a legal gospel, which is not a real gospel, Paul writes to the Galatians:

“For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand fast therefore in it, and be not again bound in the yoke of slavery.”
Gal 5:1

And to the church in Colosse he writes:

“Therefore, from the day we heard this, we do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may come to terms with the Be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthy of the Lord and to please Him in every way – as those who bear fruit in every good work, Grow in the knowledge of God, and be strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory, unto all endurance and patience with joy.”
Col 1:9-11

We can join in this prayer.