I’ll never forget that phone call. Life had been wonderful. We’d just moved into our home, spring was mercifully springing, and my wife was two months along with our second child. We awoke that morning to an ominous sign.
It’s tempting for us to think that, if only we could sit at the feet of David Platt or John Piper or Chuck Swindoll, we would be more spiritual. But the Bible tells us that God’s Word yields fruit, not when it pours through the lips of a renowned expositor or a dynamic Christian leader, but when it takes root in the fertile soil of an obedient heart (Matthew 13:18). In order to produce a bumper crop, great preaching needs great listening.
We can stress out about how to “find God’s will”or believe that God has already given His will. He wrote an entire Book full of it. Sometimes we ignore the truth that couldn’t be clearer (His Word) while searching for personalized revelation.
Any masterpiece painting can suffer from damage or decay over the years. God’s master portrait of marriage is no exception. Just as museums dedicate themselves to carefully restoring a masterwork, the church is now facing a time when it must carefully restore a Biblical view of marriage. As that restoration process begins, the church should take these five essential steps.
I sat down with a simple enough task–to answer the question, “Should Christian parents force their teens to attend church?” It would have been easy to assume “yes” and equip parents with 1000 words of bullet-pointed ammunition. So I started churning out the text, but then something unexpected happened.
I still remember where I was sitting when the phone rang. It was the director of my mission board. We were only three months into deputation to join a missions team in Zambia, Africa. My heart had been set on that plan for four years. Everything fell into place. But in one phone call it was all demolished. Our coworkers were moving. Their new location didn’t need another family. All of our plans were off.
Although marriage is not the only place where one can find spiritual blessing, social blessing, or material blessing, it might be the only place where one can find all of those blessings so closely tied together. If the church is wise, she will promote this full package of blessings and nothing less.
Does God have in mind one person you’re supposed to marry? Can you miss God’s will? Where do you start in seeking God’s will? For the next two weeks we’ll consider six biblical foundations concerning God’s will, leaving us in a better position to discern what God wants us to do.
God hasn’t audibly spoken to say which job to take, what career to pursue, or which girl to marry. But he has told you a lot—a whole book full of direction, in fact. Don’t spend your life looking for a sign or enlightenment. God has already spoken. Instead of searching under every mystical rock, keep it simple—go get your Bible and read it.
We shouldn’t let anxiety defeat us. But there are things that we ought to be concerned about. How do we know when we’ve crossed the line from legitimate concern to sinful worry?
