God Is Not Hiding His Will from Us 

One day while we were watching some of our grandchildren at our house, at one point they commissioned me to hide a stuffed animal somewhere in our living room. When they commenced their search, it didn’t take them long to discover its hiding place. Therefore I was asked to find a more difficult location on their next attempt. Apparently I succeeded. Even the older of the three who were involved couldn’t solve the mystery without being given a few hints as to the object’s location. We were laughing and enjoying the futility of their efforts as they would look past the hiding place, walk right by it, and otherwise fail in their search.

Let’s be careful that we don’t look at God and His will in a similar manner. Sometimes we can view His will for us as being some great mystery which He intentionally hides from us or tries to make difficult for us to unearth. God is not playing games with us while taking pleasure over our futile attempts to find out His plans and purposes for us. On the contrary, He wants us to know Him, to understand His will, and to live accordingly.

Moses debunked such a notion among the people of Israel, a statement which Paul later referred to in the New Testament. “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off…But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart that you may do it” (Deuteronomy 30: 11-14). The will of God shouldn’t be an enigma to us. And God doesn’t intend for it to be one. He has given us His Word and has made it plain to us. Through the written words of Scripture, through the living Word of Jesus, and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, we have opportunities to discern the will of God. He has graciously given us the means to obtain the knowledge we need about Him and how He desires for us to live our lives.

 One of the problems is that many people have chosen to reject God’s revelation. It isn’t that they don’t know or can’t discover His will. Their reason for struggling over these matters is due to the fact that they refuse to accept what He says. Too many, even within the Christian church, have forsaken the authority of Scripture as actually being the Word of God. They have reduced it to being a faulty compilation of human ideas, maybe somewhat inspired by God, yet full of errors, prejudices, outdated ideas, and open to being criticized and revised by those of us who are more enlightened today. In many cases, the problem is that we think we know better than God. Or if what the Bible or Jesus says about some subject doesn’t line up with our ideas, then we conclude that what God purportedly said must be wrong.

Granted, the Bible doesn’t speak specifically to every subject about which we may be seeking God’s will. However, between what it does address, the principles and values it teaches, and the Holy Spirit guiding us, we can have a good idea about God’s will for us. And if we will daily seek the Lord’s guidance with a heart ready to accept, receive, and obey, I believe He will show it to us in His time. According to Romans 12:1-2, if we will surrender ourselves to God and let Him transform us through the renewing of our minds, we can prove the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Seek God’s will. He isn’t trying to hide it from you. Let’s just be sure we are willing to receive whatever He reveals to us.