Is it possible to know what God’s will is for your life?
Countless numbers of people over the years have struggled with the question of knowing what God’s will is for them. I have wrestled with this question myself over the years and have prayed that God would reveal his will to me. But quite frankly there have been those times when I just didn’t know for sure what God’s will was for my life.
But what if we were to reframe the question and instead of asking whether we can “know” God’s will we might ask how can we “do” God’s will? Now this is a whole different matter, isn’t it?
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he gave us a remarkable prayer known as the “Our Father” or the “Lord’s Prayer”. In this prayer one of the petitions he taught us to pray goes like this:
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
A paraphrased version of this petition is as follows:
“Help us do your will!”
For years I have been repeating the Lord’s Prayer in worship and I have read it more times than I can count. Then it occurred to me that Jesus wasn’t teaching us to pray so we might “know” God’s will but rather to pray that God would help us to “do” his will.
Reviewing some old sermons this past week I came across a wonderful story about one of the most progressive Evangelicals you will ever meet: Tony Campolo. I wish I had the space to tell you more about this wonderful man but I can tell you a story that will suffice to demonstrate what “doing” God’s will might look like.
Tony back in the day was a popular speaker at Christian conferences and gatherings. On one occasion he was invited to speak at a conference being held in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Now Tony lives in Philadelphia so the time difference between the two time zones is significant. The first night in Honolulu Tony awoke at 2 am local time so he decided to go to the diner next to the hotel and get a cup of coffee and a doughnut.
As he was sipping his coffee a group of rather boisterous working ladies (prostitutes) entered the diner. Their language was pretty risqué so feeling uncomfortable Tony decided to leave. But then he heard one of the ladies say: “Tomorrow is my birthday!” One of her sidekicks sarcastically replied: “So what do you want me to do, throw you a party.” Tony said that he could tell the birthday girls was hurt by her friend’s sarcasm.
So after the ladies left Tony approached the manager behind the counter and asked about the group of ladies. He was told that the birthday girl’s name was Agnes and they came into the diner like clockwork each morning around 2:30. Tony then floated the idea by the manager of throwing a birthday party for Agnes.
The manager thought it was a great idea and offered to bake a cake for Agnes and put the word out on the street that there would be a birthday party at the diner the next morning.
So when the working ladies showed up at the diner, which was decorated with balloons and crepe paper, the place was full. They all began singing "Happy Birthday" to Agnes.
Agnes was so taken by the surprise party and especially the cake that she asked if she could run down the street to show it to her mother. She promised to be right back.
After she left Tony gathered everyone around him and said he wanted to pray for everyone. So he thanked God for loving these ladies when no one else seemed to love them, for watching over them, and for being there for them whoever they were in need.
When he finished the prayer the diner manager said: “I didn’t know you were a preacher. What kind of preacher are you anyway?”
Tony replied: “The kind that would throw a birthday party for a prostitute.”
I don’t know about you but somehow I just think Tony was doing God’s will even if it looked unorthodox to some.
Sometimes just doing God’s will makes more sense than trying to know it.
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