If anyone tells you it is easy to know what God wants you to do in some particular decision, and equally easy to do it — don’t believe them. It is often difficult to know God’s will; let me give you a case in point. You remember the Apostle Paul in the New Testament and how he made three missionary journeys. Let’s go with him on the second journey. He says we are going to visit the churches he organized on his first journey. And that we do, visiting Derbe and Lystra and Iconium and other places you never heard of.

And then we ask him, “Paul, where to next?” Well, perhaps he had thought about that or perhaps he hadn’t, because when he tries to go southwest from Antioch in Pisidia, our jumping off place, God won’t let him. So we preach in Phrygia and Galatia, just north of Antioch. We decide to go north into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus won’t let us go there. So Paul says we might as well amble west down toward the coast to Troas, the port city.

And at Troas Paul has a vision — a dream? — in which a man from Macedonia pleads with Paul to come over and help them. The next morning Paul relates his vision, and all of us—Paul, Silas, Timothy and perhaps Luke — discuss it and come to the conclusion that we are to cross the Aegean Sea and preach in the Roman provinces there. Notice that we give some weight to the vision, but we discuss it and weigh other input. By the way, we have no idea that this decision is a huge one; that it will mean the Gospel goes to Europe instead of going east into Asia as we know it.

What do I get from this scripture that will help you and me today? A lot. First, that God doesn’t usually send an angel, or drop His will in a letter to us, or even tell us in a dream what He wants us to do in a particular situation. Sometimes God does indeed speak to us in dreams or visions, but not that often in my New Testament. Notice too that God’s guidance is sometimes negative, when He closes doors that you wanted to go through. I bet you can think of such a time. But God’s guidance is positive too, and doors and opportunities present themselves.

Most of us try to understand God’s will in terms of Biblical light, prayer and meditation, counsel of Christian friends, honest evaluation of our spiritual gifts, and any deep sense of God’s hand in the matter. True, that does not exhaust the guidance God may give. And it may come in an unusual form. An example that comes to my mind is when I was trying to ascertain God’s will as to whether I should go as pastor of First Baptist Church in Memphis. I had pretty much gone through all the above help, and still could not feel a leading to accept that pastorate. My wife and I prayed and pondered for a week or so and had no sense of leading. Then one night I suddenly woke up with a deep sense that I should go to Memphis. I woke my wife and told her God was leading us to Memphis. And He was.

A good guide to how God will speak to you and lead you is found in how He has taken your hand in the past. I have found through the years that if I earnestly seek God’s will, even if the way forward is not clear, when I look back the path fairly glows with His presence. Perhaps more important than having some supernatural event give you guidance is the willingness to move forward through whatever door God may open to you. In that light, we need to be aware of the spiritual gifts God has given us, and realize we need to use them.

By the way, it’s a lot easier to find and do God’s will when you are a part of a loving, committed congregation of Christians. So if you need guidance in a spiritual decision, turn up in church this Sunday. God will be there, and He may speak to you through a song, through a word from a fellow worshipper, or through the sermon.

Earl Davis’ column “Raccoon Theology” appears biweekly in several western North Carolina newspapers. Dr. Davis is a minister (College Avenue Baptist Church, Lenoir), an author, and an artist, earldavisfineart.com. He can be contacted at earlcdavis@bellsouth.net