Q & A

Like most people, I spend a great deal of time seeking out God’s will for my life. This usually involves questions like: What am I supposed to do with my life? Who am I supposed to marry? What color socks should I wear today? (Just kidding.) I’ve been pondering such questions for years. Finding no concrete answers, I had almost come to the conclusion that somehow, somewhere along the way, I had missed an off-ramp, and was therefore destined to forfeit the plans God has for me (see Jeremiah 29:11).

Turns out (big surprise here) I was wrong. It’s not that I wasn’t finding any answers. I was just asking the wrong questions.

Moses asked the right questions. In Exodus 33:13, Moses asked of God, “If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor.” Notice that he didn’t ask, “Lord, what would you have me do? What career path should I follow?” It wasn’t about that. Moses understood what I’m only now starting to grasp. God’s will has nothing to do with any particular action I may take. It has everything to do with knowing God, knowing God’s character. That’s what Moses meant when he asked to know God’s ways. Knowing the character of God means becoming more intimate with him, becoming closer to him, becoming more like him. In this way, our decisions will more closely mirror God’s, so that we don’t have to run to him with every little thing. God’s character becomes our character, so that our minds come closer to being as one.

Moses also knew that if God isn’t in it, then it ain’t right. “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me – on me and your people – if you don’t go with us?” (vs. 15-16a) Moses knew that to go anywhere without God meant disaster. In my life, this equates to going to God with my own plans, asking for his permission and/or blessing, rather than seeking his plan from the beginning.

So, putting these two concepts together, knowing the character of God is the best way to unveil his plans for us, because knowing his character means knowing which plans he will inhabit. And knowing God that intimately means spending time with him. It means going to him for more than just the occasional prayer request, but actually spending time in conversation with him, just like you would a close friend. That’s how you truly know someone.

My prayer, then, is this. “Show me the right path, o Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the god who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.” (Psalm 25:4) Note that the psalmist doesn’t just ask for the solution. He specifically requests to be taught, and to be led by truth. That’s my desire; to be led by the truth of who God really is and to learn more and more about the character of God, so that I may be more like him.