How to Know God’s Will

Circumstances alone must not determine our lives, of course. We are not straws drifting on the currents of blind fate; but many times, what seems to be a mere happen-so, turns out to be God's arranging our destiny. E. Stanley Jones, tells in the preface of The Christ of Every Road how he came to write that classic book about Pentecost. He had determined not to write another book for a few years; but on an ocean voyage, he said, "this book in outline, if not in essence, came to me. When I returned to the United States, the very first request I received was from the publishers asking me to write a book on Pentecost." He understood this joining of circumstances to be an indication of God's will.

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V. Conscience. The Holy Spirit prompts the sensitive conscience to disturb when we are about to go astray and to give peace as we tread the proper path. Like the appeal to circumstances, conscience alone is not an infallible guide. One may be dead sure about a direction and dead wrong about God's will; but in the whole pattern of God's leading, conscience has a part to play. Thus, Paul and his party set sail "convinced that God had called us" (v. 10).

When George Beverly Shea was a young man, he auditioned for the Lynn Murray Singers, a famous singing group. Mr. Murray gave him "The Song of the Vagabonds" from The Vagabond King to learn. Bev did so and impressed the judges, but there was one line in the song that bothered him: "and to hell with Burgundy." He prayed about it, and when the call came for him to join the group, he had decided not to accept the offer. The next summer, he sang in a service at Pinebrook School. Dr. Will Haughton, president of Moody Bible Institute, speaker at the event, spoke to Bev about an opening at WMBI Radio. When that door opened, he was ready to step through. There he met a young evangelist named Billy Graham and went on to the ministry that has blessed millions around the world. Thus did his conscience combine with circumstances, wise counsel, communication and commitment to God to direct his life.