The Will of God Is Not a Mystery

When I became a Christian in 1993, I was seventeen, a high school senior, and my conversion was the kind people call “overnight.” I do not mean that I had been slowly warming up to Christianity after months of Bible reading, careful inquiry, and long wrestling. It was nothing like that. A cute girl asked me to go to church with her, out of nowhere, and she added that they would be serving pizza afterward. So I said yes.

To my own surprise, I heard the gospel preached, fell under conviction of my sin, understood that salvation comes only through Christ and what he accomplished, and I cried out to God to save me. A week later I was baptized. I became a very active member of a Southern Baptist church in northeast Alabama. My life had flipped.

There was something good about my situation. Since I did not grow up in church, I did not arrive with a lot of religious baggage. I was zealous and hungry, eager to learn, ready to do whatever God wanted me to do. I was a sponge.

The hard part is that I was a sponge in a church that was, doctrinally speaking, a mess. I did not know it then. It felt normal to me because I had nothing to compare it to. It was a typical Southern Baptist setting of that era. Thoroughly dispensational. Always talking as if the secret rapture of the church could happen any moment, and always confident that it would happen in our lifetime. That theology shaped everything. The church was energetic about evangelism, about getting people in the door, but once you were in, there was very little to disciple you into. There was no full, mature world and life view. There was no sense of building, planning, and preparing for a future that might be long. The atmosphere was basically this: get as many people saved as possible because we are running out of time.

And out of that bad theology arose a question that lived on everyone’s lips, especially teenagers like me who were finishing high school and staring into adulthood. It was asked constantly, and often with real anxiety. What is God’s will for my life?

Nobody seemed to know. It was treated as a great mystery. Everybody was looking for it, but nobody could find it. There were conferences and special meetings devoted to the topic. Around that same time, our church used a popular study book on Wednesday nights called Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God. Looking back now, I see how unhealthy it was, a kind of soft mysticism dressed up in devotional language. Even then, as a brand new Christian, parts of it did not sit right. But it was written in a way that made you feel like the problem if you were not “experiencing God” the way the author described. So people kept chasing the feeling, chasing the moment, chasing the sign.

And they stayed confused.

Then one day, in a Christian bookstore, I had a breakthrough. I was browsing without looking for anything in particular, and my eyes landed on a small booklet by someone named John MacArthur. I had no idea who he was. What grabbed me was the title: Found: God’s Will.

It felt like relief. Like the moment you are frantic because you cannot find your keys and you are already late, and then someone in your house says, “Found them,” and you can breathe again. That is how I felt when I saw that title. I had been anxious about this question. I was confused. I was starting to feel depressed. I loved basketball and wanted to play at a high level. I had a full scholarship to play at a small college in northeast Alabama. But it did not make sense to pour myself into classes and practices if I really believed I was living in the last generation and the end was about to explode into chaos.

So I stood there in the aisle and started reading. I got hooked immediately because MacArthur was describing the exact fog I was living in. The book was short, maybe sixty or seventy pages, and I read most of it right there before I bought it and took it home.

I am not trying to preach John MacArthur’s book. I have not seen it in over twenty years. I lost it somewhere along the way, which is ironic. Maybe one day my wife will be going through boxes in the garage and say, “Hey, found it,” and it will be the book called Found: God’s Will. That would be fitting.

I mention it because that little book was a game changer for me. MacArthur’s central point was simple and freeing: the will of God is not some strange, hidden thing that only the spiritually elite can find. The will of God is not discovered by hunting for signs, waiting for an audible voice, or trying to decode impressions. If you want to know the will of God, open your Bible. It is like running around the house looking for your glasses when they have been sitting on your forehead the whole time.

In the book, MacArthur worked through several principles drawn from passages where Scripture explicitly uses the phrase “the will of God.” I do not remember every point, but I remember the overall structure and several key texts.

One principle was that you must be a believer. There is no point in asking, “What is God’s will for my life?” while refusing the God who reveals his will. Another principle was to be filled with the Spirit, rooted in Ephesians 5:15–21. Paul tells us to walk wisely, to understand what the will of the Lord is, and then immediately says, “Do not get drunk with wine,” but instead, “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18, ESV). That filling is not a call to pursue odd experiences. It is a call to be governed by Christ, saturated with his Word, shaped by the truth, and led into grateful worship and humble submission.

Another principle was to be submissive to lawful authority, based on 1 Peter 2:13–15. Peter explicitly says, “This is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people” (1 Pet. 2:15, ESV). The will of God is not hidden. It includes ordinary faithfulness in public life, in conduct that honors God and restrains slander.

Another principle came from 1 Thessalonians 5:15–18. Do not repay evil for evil. Seek to do good. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances. Then Paul says it plainly: “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18, ESV).

And then there is 1 Thessalonians 4:3–6, which might be the most direct statement of all. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3, ESV). The passage immediately applies that sanctification to sexual purity, self control, holiness, honor, and refusing to wrong a brother or sister in this matter.

Are you seeing the pattern? God tells us what his will is. Over and over again. It is not locked behind a secret door.

But someone always asks the next question. What about the specific decisions? Should I go to college or not? Should I buy this car or that car? Should I date this person or not?

MacArthur’s answer, as I remember it, was essentially this. When you pursue what God has clearly commanded, when you are walking as a believer, pursuing sanctification, living in the Word, praying, giving thanks, submitting rightly to authority, learning to do good, then God shapes your desires. He trains your judgment. He teaches you wisdom. You become better equipped to evaluate choices with spiritual discernment. The more you are formed by Scripture, the less you need mystical shortcuts. You learn how to think in a Godward way, and you are able to make decisions with a clear conscience, guided by wisdom rather than superstition.

There is more to say about that, but the main point is what I needed back then. God’s will is not a mystery. It is not lost. It has been revealed. It is so plain that Paul says you would be foolish not to understand it (Eph. 5:17).

And here is where my own thinking eventually matured beyond that early moment of clarity. The “will of God” passages MacArthur highlighted are not random spiritual tips. They are applications of God’s moral law.

Be submissive to authority. That is the fifth commandment in action. Flee sexual immorality and control your body. That is the seventh commandment applied with spiritual depth. Be a believer, worshiping and trusting the true God. That is the first commandment at the foundation.

The Westminster Standards say this with unsurpassed clarity. After teaching what we are to believe concerning God, the Larger Catechism turns to what God requires of man. “The duty which God requireth of man, is obedience to his revealed will” (LC Q. 91). What rule did God reveal as the standard of obedience? The answer is the moral law (LC Q. 92). What is the moral law? It is “the declaration of the will of God to mankind,” binding everyone to personal, perfect, perpetual conformity and obedience (LC Q. 93). The law still has great use after the fall, not as a way to attain righteousness and life, but as a rule that reveals God’s holy will, exposes our sin and inability, humbles us, and helps us see our need for Christ and the perfection of his obedience (LC Q. 94–95). It awakens the unregenerate to flee from wrath and drives them to Christ (LC Q. 96). And for the regenerate, it shows how much we owe to Christ for fulfilling it and bearing its curse, and it provokes thankfulness expressed in greater care to conform to it as the rule of obedience (LC Q. 97). And where is this moral law summarized? In the Ten Commandments (LC Q. 98).

It is mind boggling that so many of us wandered around like lost puppies, anxious and confused, searching for something that was right under our noses the whole time. We were blinded by shallow theology and by traditions that trained us to look for the quick answer instead of doing the slow work of study, meditation, and prayer. We wanted a shortcut. We wanted a sign. We did not want to labor for wisdom.

But the will of God has been revealed, and it is summarized in the Ten Commandments.

These commandments are not museum pieces. They are the will of God for your life. If you are serious about knowing God’s will, you must be serious about understanding these commandments.

The Catechism also gives us practical rules for understanding the Ten Commandments rightly in Larger Catechism Q. 99. These are not arbitrary inventions. They reflect how Scripture itself teaches us to read God’s law. I am not going to work through all of them here in full, but I want to highlight the direction they push us.

The law is perfect, binding every person to full conformity in the whole man, requiring the utmost perfection of every duty and forbidding even the smallest degree of every sin. “The law of the Lord is perfect” (Ps. 19:7, ESV). God’s Word proves true and never leads astray (Ps. 18:30). Jesus warns against relaxing even the least commandment (Matt. 5:19). And yes, we cannot keep it perfectly. That is one of its purposes. It humbles us and drives us to Christ, and then Christ brings us back to the law as the rule of thankful obedience, not as a ladder for self righteousness.

The law is spiritual, reaching the understanding, will, affections, and all the powers of the soul, along with words and actions. “The law is spiritual” (Rom. 7:14, ESV). This matters because many have tried to argue that the commandments were only external until Jesus deepened them. That is not what Jesus is doing in Matthew 5. He is correcting corrupt interpretations. He is restoring the law to its integrity by exposing Pharisaical reductions. Unjust anger violates the sixth commandment. Lust violates the seventh. The law always demanded purity of heart because the Lawgiver is spiritual and searches the heart.

The law also teaches us how to reason from a command to its full moral reach. Duties imply opposite sins that are forbidden, and prohibitions imply opposite duties that are required. Paul gives a clear example: “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor” (Eph. 4:28, ESV). Jesus gives another in Matthew 15 when he rebukes those who hid behind religious tradition to avoid caring for parents. The fifth commandment is not fulfilled by avoiding insults while refusing support. Honor includes active duty.

The law does not expire with changing times. What God forbids is never to be done, and what he commands is always our duty, even though particular duties have fitting times and places. Jesus says not even the smallest part of the law will pass away until all is accomplished (Matt. 5:18). Our culture insists morality evolves. Scripture insists God does not. Christ’s words are a rock, and the wise build on them (Matt. 7:24–27). When people call God’s standards outdated, it is often because they want freedom to justify what they already desire. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Prov. 14:12).

The law is also all inclusive. Under one sin, all of the same kind are forbidden, together with the causes, means, occasions, appearances, and provocations. The New Testament calls us to abstain from every form of evil (1 Thess. 5:22). People understand prevention when it comes to physical sickness. They take precautions. But with sin, many flirt with danger and then act surprised by the fall. Wisdom avoids the path that leads to the cliff.

And the law is not only personal. We are bound, according to our places, to seek that it be observed by others, and to help them in doing what is right. The fourth commandment itself makes this plain. The Sabbath command addresses not only you but your household, those under your authority, even the sojourner within your gates (Exod. 20:10). Love of neighbor includes reproof and honest reasoning, not silent resentment or private vengeance. Leviticus 19:17 commands, “You shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him” (ESV), and immediately ties this to loving your neighbor as yourself (Lev. 19:18). To refuse correction when correction is needed is not kindness. It is often hatred disguised as politeness.

Paul captures the same moral shape in Ephesians 5:6–17. Do not be deceived by empty words. Do not become partners with disobedience. Walk as children of light. Take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but expose them. Then Paul returns to the theme that started this whole discussion for me years ago: “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17, ESV).

This brings me back full circle. The Ten Commandments summarize the moral law, and the moral law is the revealed will of God for your life. So do not treat the study of the commandments as a side issue. You can ignore them, but you will do so to your own destruction.

A few simple exhortations follow naturally. Receive the commandments as God’s Word, as if you heard them spoken from Sinai, with reverent fear. Pray for understanding, with David: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Ps. 119:18, ESV). Make it your goal not only to understand but to do, since Moses says we are to learn God’s rules and be careful to do them (Deut. 5:1–2). Examine yourself by them, because the one who hears without doing is like a man who looks in a mirror and forgets what he saw (James 1:23–24). Let the law convict you, and let that conviction press you into repentance and faith, driving you to Christ again and again. Then give yourself to Scripture so that you can understand the fullness of God’s will and apply it with wisdom, using our confessional standards as faithful guides under the authority of God’s Word.

God’s will for your life is not hidden. It is not lost. It is not a mystery reserved for the spiritually dramatic.

It is right under your nose. May God make us people who know it, love it, and live it.