God’s Will

that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 

What do you think when you hear the phrase “God’s will”?   Often enough, we think of it as a predetermined script that we are handed.   Our role is spelled out—married or religious, teacher or homemaker—and all we have to do is memorize our lines and deliver them.

But experience shows us that this way of thinking can fall short.   God’s will isn’t a hard-and-fast script that we act out.   It’s more like an unfolding collaboration, in which God is the playwright and we are the actors—and we’re working together to make the show as successful as possible.   God doesn’t limit our creativity.   He loves it when we improvise and try to move the story forward.

So what is one way that we can cooperate with our divine Author?   According to St. Paul, it comes as we develop “spiritual wisdom and understanding”.   That sounds like another big concept, but again, it’s not so intimidating. “Spiritual” wisdom and understanding come in the same way that “natural” wisdom and understanding do: it’s what we learn as we reflect on our lives with the help of the Lord.

We become more wise and understanding as we take a few minutes in prayer every evening to review the day and ask where we saw God at work in and around us.   Maybe he prompted us to enjoy a beautiful sunrise and to lift our hearts to him in praise.   Maybe he moved us to reach out to a family whose father had just lost his job.   Maybe he helped us treat an unruly child with gentle firmness.

Of course, these are just a few examples.   The possibilities are endless.   But if you can get in the habit of reviewing your day, you’ll slowly begin to see how God is leading and guiding you.   You’ll begin to understand what he is asking of you—what his “will” is for you day by day.

You don’t have to have all the answers right away.   You don’t need to know the whole script.   You just need to work with your Author one day at a time.    And you need to trust that he is working with you.

word among us