Meditations from Zion

To whom do you go seeking God’s will? The “right” answer is that we go to God, but honestly, how many of us are very good at “hearing” God’s answers to the burning questions of our lives, our hopes, our futures, our decisions?

Exodus 18:15
Moses answered him [Jethro], “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. . . . “

When Moses led the people out of Egypt, it was understood that he had communion with God, heard God’s voice, and was directed by God. The people believed in Moses and trusted him. Of course, this was before he disappeared up Mt. Sinai for forty days and forty nights. Nonetheless, at that point, they came to him for “judgments” in the midst of their disagreements. It was Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law, who observed the morning to evening ritual of “holding court” that Moses did for the people and it was Jethro who suggested Moses divide these responsibilities to other trusted leaders that Moses could appoint over “thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens,” saving the more difficult cases for himself.

Here’s the point: As long as we give authority to someone to make a judgment on our behalf, we are accepting that judgment as God’s will.

This is the basis for our modern court system in which we have, as a culture, determined that controversies should be submitted to a judge (and sometimes a jury), to pronounce an answer, a judgment. Of course, in our world, we have now developed a complex appeal system. In essence, saying, “that’s not God’s will, that’s not the answer I wanted or needed or expected; that judgment wasn’t fairly determined, let’s try again, etc.”

To whom do you give the authority to make judgments in your life?

Is God sovereign or not? As a believer, can I make a judgment or take a path that is outside God’s ultimate will? OK, I’ll grant that my road could be shorter/smarter/leaner if my decisions were more in tune with the Holy Spirit. If I could slow down and ask God more often for direction, I’d probably stop wasting so much time and energy on detours. And yet, God does make the Way.

I have no Moses. Instead, I have the presence of the Holy Spirit within, given by God through the Christ. God’s will is not some floating pronouncement out of reach that requires intense prayer and fasting and study. It’s in the little things, the little daily judgments, the little decisions. And then, it’s on me to accept “what is” in order to move on to what can come next.

Today, I am in God’s will. I have given authority to Christ Jesus who dwells within as Spirit.