Finding the will of God is kin to joining Him in His work.

Psalm 143. 8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; For in thee do I trust: Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; For I lift up my soul unto thee. 9Deliver me, O Jehovah, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. 10Teach me to do thy will; For thou art my God: Thy Spirit is good; Lead me in the land of uprightness.

Three times in verses 8–10 David prays for guidance. Each petition has a slightly different focus. “Show me the way I should go” reflects David’s confusion, but also hints that there are unique and individual elements to the guidance he needs (as there are individual callings in the church, John 21:21–22).

“Teach me to do your will”, now focuses entirely on God’s agenda (“for you are my God”). Knowing and doing God’s will is the very stuff of guidance. “May your good Spirit lead me on level ground” (143:10b) is to admit that we may trip as well as rebel, stumble as well as stray and always we need help.

Is it possible for God to be active around you and you not to recognize it? Yes. Elisha and his servant were in the city of Dothan, which was surrounded by an enemy army that was intent on capturing them. The servant was terrified, but Elisha remained calm. “Then Elisha prayed, ‘LORD, please open his eyes and let him see.’ So the LORD opened the servant’s eyes. He looked and saw that the mountain was covered with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2 Kings 6:17).

Only when the Lord opened the servant’s eyes did he see God’s activity all around him. God had gathered a great host of His heavenly forces in that location and yet the servant was unaware of the divine activity that was occurring dramatically all around him.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem and its leaders as He prophesied the horrific destruction that would occur in A.D. 70. Jesus declared, “If you knew this day what would bring peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42). God was in their midst performing amazing signs and miracles, yet His own people were oblivious to the Father’s work. They had not developed their love relationship with the Father, even though they had been diligent students of Scripture.

Jesus condemned many of the religious leaders of His day for missing the most important part of life—a love relationship with God. He said to them, “You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me. And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40).

Two factors are important if you are going to recognize God’s activity around you:

1. You must be living in an intimate love relationship with God.

2. God must open your spiritual eyes so you can see what He is doing. Unless God allows you to see where He is active, you will not recognize what God is doing even though He may be working mightily all around you.

Romans 12:1–2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The last part of verse 2, namely, the aim of the renewed mind: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The Two Wills of God

There are two clear and very different meanings for the term “will of God” in the Bible.

The first meaning of the will of God: is God’s sovereign control of all things. We will call this his “sovereign will” or his “will of decree.” It cannot be broken. It always comes to pass. “He does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’ ” (Daniel 4:35).

The other meaning for “the will of God” in the Bible is what we can call his “will of command.” His will is what he commands us to do. This is the will of God we can disobey and fail to do. The will of decree we do whether we believe in it or not. The will of command we can fail to do.

Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Not all do the will of his father. He says so. “Not everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Why? Because not all do the will of God.

Which of these is meant in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The answer surely is that Paul is referring to God’s will of command. Because, God does not intend for us to know most of his sovereign will ahead of time. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us” (Deuteronomy 29:29). If you want to know the future details of God’s will of decree, you don’t want a renewed mind, you want a crystal ball. This is not called transformation and obedience; it’s called divination, soothsaying.

The other reason, “by testing you may discern” implies that we should approve of the will of God and then obediently do it. But in fact we should not approve of sin or do it, even though it is part of God’s sovereign will. The goal of this verse: is for us to discern the revealed will of God that we ought to do.

Stages of Knowing and Doing the Revealed Will of God

There are stages of knowing and doing the revealed will of God, his will of command; and all of them require the renewed mind with its Holy-Spirit-given discernment

First, God’s will of command is revealed with final, decisive authority only in the Bible. And we need the renewed mind to understand and embrace what God commands in the Scripture. Without the renewed mind, we will distort the Scriptures to avoid their radical commands for self-denial, and love, and purity, and supreme satisfaction in Christ alone.

God’s authoritative will of command is found only in the Bible. Paul says that the Scriptures are inspired and make the Christian “competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16).

The second stage of God’s will of command is our application of the biblical truth to new situations that may or may not be explicitly addressed in the Bible. The Bible does not tell you which person to marry, or which car to drive, or whether to own a home, where you take your vacation, what cell-phone plan to buy, or which brand of orange juice to drink. Or a thousand other choices you must make.

What is necessary is that we have a renewed mind, that is so shaped and so governed by the revealed will of God in the Bible, that we see and assess all relevant factors with the mind of Christ, and discern what God is calling us to do. This is very different from constantly trying to hear God’s voice saying do this and do that. People who try to lead their lives by hearing voices are not in sync with Romans 12:2.

There is a world of difference between praying and laboring for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God’s Word, on the one hand, and the habit of asking God to give you new revelation of what to do, on the other hand. Divination does not require transformation. God’s aim is a new mind, a new way of thinking and judging, not just new information. His aim is that we be transformed, sanctified, freed by the truth of his revealed Word (John 8:32; 17:17). The second stage of God’s will of command is the discerning application of the Scriptures to new situations in life by means of a renewed mind.

the vast majority of living where there is no conscious reflection before we act. I venture to say that a good 95% of your behavior you do not premeditate. That is, most of your thoughts, attitudes, and actions are spontaneous. They are just spillover from what’s inside. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:34–36).

Because God commands things like: Don’t be angry. Don’t be prideful. Don’t covet. Don’t be anxious. Don’t be jealous. Don’t envy. And none of those actions are premeditated. Anger, pride, covetousness, anxiety, jealousy, envy—they all just rise up out of the heart with no conscious reflection or intention. And we are guilty because of them. They break the commandment of God.

It is plain therefore that there is one great task of the Christian life: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need new hearts and new minds. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good (Matthew 12:33). That’s the great challenge. That is what God calls you to. You can’t do it on your own. You need Christ, who died for your sins. And you need the Holy Spirit to lead you into Christ-exalting truth and work in you truth-embracing humility.

Give yourself to this. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God; saturate your mind with it. And pray that the Spirit of Christ would make you so new that the spillover would be good, acceptable, and perfect—the will of God. piper

Transformation Is Not Just External

The nonconformity to the world does not primarily mean the external avoidance of worldly behaviors. That’s included, but you can avoid all kinds of worldly behaviors and not be transformed. “His face shown like the sun, and his clothes became white as light”! Something like that happens to us spiritually and morally. Mentally, first on the inside, and then, later at the resurrection on the outside. So Jesus says of us, at the resurrection: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43).

What’s wrong with the human mind? Why does our mind need renewing? And what does this renewal look like? And how can we pursue and enjoy this renewal?

The Problem with Our Minds

There are many who think that the only problem with the human mind is that it doesn’t have access to all the knowledge it needs.

The problem with our minds is not merely that we are finite, and don’t have all the information. The problem is that our minds are fallen. They have a spirit, a bent, a mindset that is hostile to the absolute supremacy of God. Our minds are bent on not seeing God as infinitely more worthy of praise than we are, or the things we make or achieve.

What is at issue is the transformation of the way we think, bringing our minds in line with the ways and Word of God. That will produce all the change in behavior that is necessary and wise—and that change will be radical.

By this fundamental transformation, we shall be enabled to test and approve in our own experience what God’s will is—and find it “good, pleasing and perfect” (12:2). In the light of Romans 8:9, doubtless the motivating power for this transformation is the Spirit of God. But that magnificent truth does not absolve us of resolve; it empowers it.

Ephesians 4:17–18, “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

The Holy Spirit must do a double work. He must work in two directions: from the outside in and from the inside out. He must work from the outside in by exposing the mind to Christ-exalting truth. That is, he must lead us to hear the gospel, to read the Bible, to study Christ-exalting writings of great, spiritual men, and to meditate on the perfections of Christ. This is exactly what our great enemy does not want us to do according to 2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

Don’t keep asking God to bless your plans and goals or those of your church. Rather, look for God’s invitation to join Him in accomplishing His work.

The Bible reveals that God has always been involved in the world to reconcile people to Himself. He is in the center of all that takes place. When we read the Bible, we read how God has accomplished this divine work in our world. We see that He always takes the initiative to involve His people in His activity.

When God wanted to save people from a severe famine, He helped the young man Joseph understand that a drought was coming. When God wanted to save His people from a widespread massacre, He raised up a young woman, Esther, to the royal throne. When He was preparing to send the Messiah into the world, God first commissioned John the Baptist to prepare the way. As Jesus lay His life down for the sins of humanity, the Father prompted a businessman, Joseph of Arimathea, to make his own tomb available for Jesus’ body.

Whenever God was about to accomplish a new work, He invited people to join Him in His activity.

In His timing, God will show you where He is working so you can join Him. Don’t be in a hurry to be constantly engaged in activities for God. He may spend years preparing your character or developing your love relationship with Him before He gives you a large assignment.

Don’t get discouraged if the task or “call” does not come immediately. Remain faithful in what He has told you to do, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it may appear.

Jesus was twelve when He went about the Father’s business in the temple. Yet, He was thirty before He began the public ministry God had prepared Him for. The Son of God spent several years as a carpenter, waiting until the Father was ready for Jesus to begin His public ministry.

In this process of knowing and doing God’s will, you may ask: “Why doesn’t God give me a big assignment?”

Have you ever said something like, “Lord, if You will just tell me what you want me to do, I will serve You to the best of my ability”? If God were to put you in that kind of assignment, could He trust you to handle it? Are you ready to go to the next level of faith in God?

Waiting on the Lord should not be an idle time for you. Let God use times of waiting to mold and shape your character. Let Him purify your life and make you into a clean vessel for His service.

Do not use human standards to measure the significance or value of your assignment. Whatever mission God gives, do it with all your heart.

God takes the initiative to involve His people with Him in His work. He does this on His timetable, not ours. He’s the One who is already at work in our world. When He opens your spiritual eyes to see where He is at work, that revelation is your invitation to join Him.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. Are there times when God showed you His activity, and you missed it? If so, why do you think that happened?

2. Do you presently see God at work around your life? Are you willing to respond to His invitation to adjust your life and join Him? If not, what is holding you back?