When I first got saved, I had an urgent desire to be a part of God’s will. Doing things my way had never worked so as a new believer, I had questions on what it looked like to be in God’s will and how to know if I even was.
It’s a genuine fear to never again want to operate from outside of God’s will. This fear drives us so much that we glamorize what the will of God looks like so as to not miss it. Most often, we want it to look a certain way with miracles, signs, and wonders at every turn. We pass over the mundane and look ahead at the future to try to draw it out for ourselves. We look backwards at road bumps from our past so that we can avoid running into them again. We spend so much time looking ahead and backwards that many of us miss God walking right alongside us.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
God’s not in a hurry and neither is His will.
“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…”
Genesis 3:8 (ESV)
From the beginning, God gives us a look into what it’s like to be in His will as His creation. He paints a vivid picture for us, but if we’re not careful, we miss it. He shows us in Genesis 2 and 3 that His will involves walking with Him naked and unashamed (Genesis 2:15) and taking care of what He’s entrusted us with (Genesis 2:15). He shows us in Genesis 3 that being outside of His will means hiding from Him (Genesis 3:8-11) and not following His word (Genesis 11-13).
“Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.”
Genesis 6:9 (ESV)
If we’re still unsure of what His will looks like while we read His word, God gives us another clear picture.
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.”
Genesis 17:1 (NIV)
The only way I can trust I’m in God’s will is by walking with Him in the now, in the present, in the today. God’s will for my life is walking with Him daily. The Old Testament gives us accounts of individuals walking with God and following His word. When His very Word is made flesh (John 1:1), there He is again in the New Testament, walking.
On the Road to Emmaus
“After these things he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country.”
Mark 16:12 (ESV)
“That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.”
Luke 24:13-15 (ESV)
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself…”
Luke 24:27 (ESV)
The road to Emmaus is one of my favorite scriptural depictions of God and the relationship He wants to have with us and what He wants it to look like. It’s the story that made me realize that the will of God is found in the mundane moments when we simply are existing. We’re not trying to rush or get to the next thing, we just want to be in His presence. This story helps me understand why God uses walking to depict His will. He wants us to contrast it with its opposite, running.
When I run, my adrenaline is boosted. It’s easy for me to miss things around me or to focus on a single thing. Have you tried running to a slow song? It almost feels impossible. I need songs that are upbeat with great rhythms and loud basses that keep me moving. I have a goal or destination in mind when I run that I aim to get to faster than walking. Running has urgency attached to it. Coming to a stop from a run feels counterproductive like I’m going against my nature. I don’t have time to stop and think, I just want to get there, wherever ‘there’ is.
Though walking also requires my movement, it gives me the opportunity to be still. I don’t have resistance coming to a full stop when I walk. I sometimes even welcome it. Walking allows me to take things in around me. I see a nice view? You bet I’m stopping to take a pic. I get a phone call? I don’t mind catching-up. I’m willing and able to have conversations because I don’t feel out of breath or bothered by them. When I walk, I’m a lot more willing to change course should I need to.
On the Road to Emmaus
“So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.”
Luke 24:28-29 (ESV)
God has His ultimate will for us and He’s also holy and just. Because of this, as well as His grace and mercy, He also gave us our own free will. The verses highlighted in this post show that there’s one requirement to walking in God’s will, we must choose to. He’s available for the walk, but we get to decide if we want to continue walking alongside Him.
We often have it backwards. We want the assignment and purpose then choose to say yes to the walk. Whereas God shows us through many biblical examples that He wants us to first walk with Him and then He’ll give us our assignments. For Cleopas and his friend on the road to Emmaus, they were first God’s disciples (Mark 16). For Abraham, God’s will was for Abraham to become the father of many nations after walking with Him (Genesis 17). For Noah, it was to build the arc after walking with Him (Genesis 6). When Jesus Christ walked on earth, He first asked His disciples to follow Him then He made them fishers of men (Mark 1:17). For all believers of Christ, our “then” becomes following the great commission (Matthew 28:16-20).
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)
God doesn’t actually need us to do anything for Him, He wants a relationship with us. His will is founded on this. We don’t need to contemplate it, over-glamorize it, or over-analyze it. God’s will is spent in the present. We are asked to follow Him first. How do we do that? We walk with Him, follow His word, and only then can we allow Him to guide our steps.
Sincerely,
Anne
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Scripture to meditate on this week:
“Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”
Exodus 33:11 (ESV)
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
“Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!”
Psalm 37: 3-7 (ESV)
Then I said, “Behold, I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
Psalm 40: 7-8 (ESV)
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