Are You at a Fork in the Road?
Have you ever come to a fork in the road without having a clear direction on which way to go? When you come to a fork in the road, what steps do you take to come up with a direction? How do you take what could be one of the most important decisions in your life and make sure that you are making the right choice. Some of the decisions that we are faced will be life altering decisions that have the potential to send us in the wrong direction, so how do we know which direction to travel when we come to a fork in the road?
“Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.” (Psalm 25:4, NASB95)
First and most importantly, we should look to God for His will in our life. What is His will for our life?
What a monumentally important question that all believers ask or should ask themselves as soon as possible.
“also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,” (Ephesians 1:11, NASB95)
God’s will can be a theologically loaded idea, and depending on who you ask, it has the potential to be very confusing to receive advice and training on this topic. For these reasons, I always suggest that people speak directly to God about His will and avoid asking others their opinion on what exactly God’s will is.
Admittedly, I have personally wrestled with the question, “what is God’s will for my life”, and it is a tough one to answer, but I also believe that the toughest questions provide the most enlightening answers.
I want to tackle the question, “what is God’s Will for my life” with three points of consideration, but before doing this, I think that it is important to state that this question is a personal question for each of us. It is a question that each of has to determine with God. It is a question that cannot be answered by anyone except — each of us and God.
Some considerations for seeking to understand God’s will (desire) for our life.
First, when we look to God’s Word, we find a meta-narrative that shows God’s desire for us to live a life of righteousness and in return, receive favor.
“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11–13, NASB95)
This message is consistent throughout God’s Word — Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, we see a righteous God pleading for His chosen nation Israel to become righteous and follow His ways (The Law), which were given to them by His prophets.
In the New Testament, we see the exact same narrative, but we see it on a personal level. We see God reaching out to His people individually through the teaching and the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. He tells us:
““For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16–17, NASB95)
This meta-narrative of the Bible, also known as the systematic theme, is one that shows us that God desires good for His people. This point above all else should be understood when we seek to understand God’s Will for our life.
The second point of consideration is the that God shows us our priorities — these are priorities that each of us should hold at a fundamental level. They are seen in the words of Christ:
“and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”” (Mark 12:30–31, NASB95)
When you look at this scripture, what do you see?
There is massive significance here because it shows us where our priorities should be placed. We were made to love God first and then second — to love our neighbors.
The third point of consideration is that — God wants us to trust Him. Sometimes this trust is built over time by God showing us His faithfulness over and over. He wants us to be un-afraid of everything except Him.
Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” This is a healthy fear that helps us realize the awesomeness of our God. It is the same fear that helps us realize the size or our God — He is the God that breathes solar systems into existence.
To begin to trust God, we can look back over the course of our lives and see that He is our provision and protection. He feeds us through nature and allows us to breathe His air. These are essential provisions, and if we see them as a gift, then it becomes clearer to us that everything else we receive is a gift from Him.
God tends to nudge us when our faith is ready. He prepares us through His faithfulness time and time again, and when we are looking for Him, we are always able to find Him. His Word promises this in the Gospels,
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7–8, NASB95)
Sometimes God plants a dream in our heart and then waits for us to make the next move. He in effect says, “I have given you what you need to move forward; I have planted a dream in you, now it is your turn to walk in faith”. When we move in faith, He moves also. He is always faithful to never leave us or forsake us.
We must also know that God will never force our hand. This is a very important aspect of knowing which direction to take. Many people decide to sit on a dream because of fear; It could be a dream of moving into a new occupation, starting a business or taking a missions trip — everyone’s dreams and aspirations are different but,
there is one thing in common with all of our dreams and that is that — our dreams will lay dormant in fear as long as we choose to leave them there.
I believe that God desires us to walk in faith. He desires us to be “as bold as a lion”. He wants us to grab our dreams out of the dormant state that we left them in, dust them off and start running with them. We must remember who God is; He is the author of Philippians 4:13 which teaches us that we “can do all things through Him who strengthens us”.
Lastly, we must trust ourselves. If we’ve had a desire in our heart for a substantial amount of time that is calling us to move, we must trust ourselves and the abilities that we have.
If we are at a fork in the road, God will direct us, but it is then our responsibility to take His direction and move.
When we have God in our life, our limitations are only as big as we construct them.
