Although my life is already predestined by my Creator, I am still responsible for the following of the Lord’s plan or will for my life.  Even though God has laid down my path of life, I still must seek His guidance and strength.

But more often than not, God’s will for us is not as clear as it might be for others and these times are often full of doubt and are discouraging for the Christian.

This path of life includes many major decisions.  Some of these are as such: our calling, which is in itself a vast collection of decisions.  There might be the question of college; how long, where?

Another major decision may be to start looking for a job, or yet another, to look for a wife.

Since most of these decisions must be made at the end of high school, I shall address this article to those people who are now going through the struggles that I did a few years ago.  The post high school years I feel are the most traumatic as it seems that all these decisions are coming all at once and the confusion and pressure are also coming from all sides.  During these times it is all important to pray to our heavenly Father who is divinely watching over His people at all times, but it is also important to seek the counsel of our parents and close, serious-minded friends.

In the article, I am going to discuss with you what I have learned about discovering and understanding God’s will for my life and share with you some of the instances in my life that will possibly help illustrate what I’m saying.  Also those of you that are going through this time of your life, I sincerely empathize with you, having been there myself, and maybe our discussion of it will help you.

I gave some examples earlier of major decisions.  Let’s concentrate on our calling which is the most important of all.  My experience has been that no matter how much preparation has been made in earlier years in high school, I wasn’t very serious about it because the time to implement what I was learning was so far away.  Also during this time I began to romanticize various careers like being a great and distinguished teacher or a silver-tongued minister with a large church.  Then I realized that I was going about these decisions in the wrong way.  I was thinking only of myself and that whatever I chose to be, I automatically had the talents for.  But my motivation was all wrong and when I got to college, the desire and dedication soon wore off.  Confusion set in and I began to get depressed as the future looked bleak.  While I was in the middle of one of these times, a close friend at college gave me a note instructing me to read Psalm 139.  I did and I learned an awful lot from this simple yet beautiful Psalm.  You know, we sometimes feel as though we are completely on our own and that we are suddenly thrown out into the world of wolves, completely unequipped for life.  But although we are responsible for our actions, the decisions we make are merely the will of God.  The depression began to disappear as I realized that my “downsitting and my uprising” is already known by God and that He is guiding me.  What a beautiful comfort for a Christian!

I also mentioned earlier that sometimes our future isn’t as clear as it might seem to be for others.  This is the heart of the matter.  Most of the time we have to literally seek God’s will for us.  Sometimes, in the process of seeking, we come up against the few tightly closed doors which indicate to us that it wasn’t God’s will for us.  We must continually pray to God that He might show us His plan.  This means that every time we begin a new course of study or apply for a new job, we ask that His will be done.  But how do we know if we are doing His will?  God blesses us when we do His will and His blessings include the opening of doors such as an acceptance of an application or a conviction in a particular field of study.  We have to remember that no matter what God calls us to do, He will equip us with the necessary talents.  This does not mean that we can just sit back and let God take over but rather we strive whole heartedly to do the best of our ability and if it doesn’t work out, we call on God to guide us to the next course.

Among the many means God uses to guide us is His gift of good Christian parents.  Through our years under our parents, we are guided to see our talents and instructed in the ways to use them.  How many times haven’t our parents seen a musical ability and prodded us to take piano lessons or join band, or seen a linguistic or writing talent and told us how to utilize these talents in college or in various jobs.  So why not talk to our parents who should know more of what is best for us than any college counsellor?  Parents are an excellent source of encouragement and motivation because God works directly through them right in our homes.

Another means of direction might be our friend.  I already mentioned how a good friend helped me with just a little note of encouragement.  Pick your friends carefully because you never know when you might need them in a time of trouble.

In conclusion, seeking God’s will is sometimes very confusing and discouraging; it was for me.  But the experience invariably drew me closer to my great God and heavenly Father as it will for you.  I am comforted when I realize how tiny I am compared to the great God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, yet He can lead me through my distressing times.  Paul also speaks of this in Ephesians: “I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called…” knowing that there is “one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

I think a fitting conclusion to the matter of seeking God’s will for our lives is the final two verses of Psalm 139:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”