To find our life’s purpose, it’s important to ask the right person and to ask the right question. AS we shared in the last blog, the right person is Jesus. He created us, redeemed us, and desires to lead us as we walk in relationship with Him.

However, once we come to Christ, we can still be guilty of asking the wrong question. After all, if you ask the wrong question, you’ll get the wrong answer. The same is true in discerning God’s direction.

For example, we often ask, “What is God’s will for my life.” The subtle problem with the question is our over-emphasis on the pronoun “MY,” as in, “My life.”

The proper question is, “What is God’s will?”

Once we know God’s will, our job is to adjust our lives accordingly. The focus needs to remain on God and not me. Otherwise we merely baptize our selfishness in religious language.

As we shared in the last blog, if you want the right information, you need to go to the right person with the right question. The same is true with discovering God’s will for our lives. Let’s begin with the right person. To whom do we turn to discover the purpose for our life?

The Bible tells us that the will of God is found in a Person. Jesus made this bold claim: “I am THE WAY…” (John 14:6) To discover our purpose, we need to have a relationship with Jesus. When we come to know Christ, He doesn’t hand us a detailed map. Instead, he invites us to follow Him. He wants our simple, child-like obedience.

Consider the example of Abram:

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1,2)

God told Abram to “go.” He had no idea where he was going, but God did. Abraham had to begin by taking the first step in child-like obedience. As he walked with God, he was given more and more detail.

The same is true for us. Jesus is our way. If we are out of touch with Him, we’ll eventually be off track.

Why does God limit the details of His guidance? For one simple reason. He values the relationship more than the destination. He wants us to stay close to Him. Walk with Jesus in simple obedience and faith and He will lead you each step of the way. At the end of your days, you’ll be able to look back and realize you have been in the center of God’s purposes for your life.

When it comes to hearing God’s voice, you need to make sure you go to the right person with the right question.

Don’t you love going up to a department store clerk and asking a question only to receive a confused or disinterested response that basically says, “I don’t know…I just work here.”

What’s the point here – you go to the wrong person, you get wrong information or no information.

On the other hand, don’t you love it when the right person, comes into you life at just the right time, with just the right information.

We were traveling together as a family heading down to Gulf Shores for a vacation. We are in the middle of Alabama where towns are small and people are few and far between when I noticed we needed gas. We pull off at the next available exit, locate the gas station, pull in and shut off my van. When I get out of the vehicle I notice that some type of strange liquid is spewing out from my van.

Discerning that something just might be wrong, I pop the hood and begin to stare at the engine. I have absolutely no clue as to what is wrong let alone how to fix it. I’m just staring in stunned silence while thoughts of our precious vacation go up in flames.

While the dazed stupor is beginning to set in, I hear a voice next to me say, “Well, looks like your water pump went out.” It was like a hillbilly angel showed up out of nowhere with wisdom from heaven in a southern accent.

“The water pump, huh?,” I smartly added. “Is there anyone around here that can fix that?” I asked.

“Yeah,’ he replied “I just saw the owner walk into the restaurant across the street for some lunch. I’ll go get him.”

Within a couple of hours we were back on the highway. It was a total miracle. God sent the right person, at the right time, with the right information!

The same is true for discovering God’s will for our lives. We need to go to the right person and we must ask the right question. We’ll talk about this in my next blog!