we can become so preoccupied with the explicit will of God for our lives. that we offend him. By resorting to techniques that the Old Testament would have considered magic. and would have frowned upon with great disdain. And so what I want to do is look at legitimate ways that the Bible gives us and sets before us of discerning the will of God.
Have you ever wanted to know God's will for your life? Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham and welcome to Renewing Your Mind. If you have, then stay with us as you'll hear a message from R. C.
Sproll's classic series, Knowing God's Will. My wife and I are blessed to have four children. But with children, especially teenage and college-aged children, come questions. What career should they pursue? What college should they attend?
And perhaps soon, who should they marry? Perhaps you can relate. as a parent or as a young person wrestling with these same questions. This series has been so helpful for me. Not because Dr.
Sproll answered all of my questions, but because he points us to the Bible and what we can know about discerning the will of God. This week's series is five messages, and they can be yours along with a copy of his book, Can I Know God's Will? When you give a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org. and it has been your financial support that has enabled the construction of this new Renewing Your Minds studio. Say thank you.
And if you're not watching on YouTube, be sure to head on over so that you can take a look.
Well, here's R. C. Sproll with his first message, looking for God's will. How do you know the will of God for your life? I think I get that question more frequently than any other theological or biblical question.
And I was thinking about this recently. I'd gone hunting in December, And in the middle of the day I climbed up into a tree on a tree stand as we were hunting for buck. And If any of you have ever been buck hunting and sitting on a tree stand for any length of time, you know how uncomfortable that can be and how boring it can be. I enjoy it, but you have to concentrate fiercely, listen to every rustling of the grass and every breaking twig to be alert for the appearance and approach of a deer. But during my boredom on the tree stand, I started to think of an experience that a close friend of mine had Several years ago.
He had finished his medical residency in one city in America, his surgical residency as he was a surgeon. And he was invited to stay in that city. and to continue to work at the hospital where he had done his internship, and at the same time he had received an invitation from a small group of doctors in Wisconsin to join them in their practice. and this man was a devout Christian, and he earnestly wanted to know where God wanted him to be. and where God wanted him to serve.
So he prayed about it and prayed about it. couldn't come to a conclusion as to where he should be, and he happened to be deer hunting. and he was sitting in a tree stand, just like I was. And he was praying about this and still couldn't make up his mind. And finally, he put out a fleece.
He decided to put God to the test. and he said, Dear God, if you want me to go to Wisconsin, let a buck come into my view in the next five minutes And sure enough, three minutes later, out of the thicket walked this magnificent buck, And my doctor friend was thrilled that God had so marvelously answered his prayer and confirmed to him that he should refuse the offer in Philadelphia and move. to Wisconsin to continue his medical career.
Well, the end of the story is he moved to Wisconsin. And he's been there ever since. And as I was in my tree stand thinking about this, I thought, what a remarkable thing. that this man's entire Career. His life and the life of his family.
We're radically changed. By this fleece that he put out, which is a practice that I'm not all that comfortable with. but he desperately was trying to understand the will of God. And he considered this event as an expression or manifestation. Of extraordinary providence, where God was saying to him or clarifying to him.
what God's will was for his life.
Well, that story's somewhat dramatic and perhaps even a little bit hokey. And yet there are few of us that haven't done that at some time or another. In fact, as I was reflecting on this in my tree stand, I thought, I wonder if I can make a deal with God. I'm getting awfully bored sitting up here, but no bucks came my way. As it were.
But I had an experience that was somewhat similar to that when I was just beginning my teaching career. I had a one-year appointment. Teaching Philosophy at My Alma Mater. This is the place where I'd become a Christian in the first place. And I have to say to you, I loved every tree and every blade of grass on that campus.
And I would have given anything to you. to have been able to stay on the faculty of that college. But it had been made absolutely clear to me when I went there that this was for a one year appointment only.
Well, during that year, I was scouting around trying to find a teaching position somewhere else. When in the springtime, when contracts were being offered at various places. I was offered a teaching position at a school in Massachusetts. And I was grateful for that offer. And I went there for an interview.
And when I went through the interview, I wasn't quite as excited as I had been earlier with the possibility. and when I returned from Massachusetts to continue my teaching at my Alma Mater, The president of the college called me into his office and said, I know that you were. hired for one year only, but we would like to offer you you know, a permanent contract here.
Well, that was my wildest dream. That was like going to the Super Bowl. That I thought Wow, that's terrific. He said, think about it for a couple of days and give me your answer.
So I came home and I told my wife, and we both rejoiced in this. And I decided, well, obviously, this is what we've always wanted to do. We'll just say yes. And so I called the president of the school in Massachusetts and told him that I had been offered a position at my alma mater. And he said to me, oh, please, he said.
Before you decide on that, he said, Will you at least think about it for a week or whatever and get back to me? And I thought, Well, I owed him that. And so I would. And so my wife and I decided to pray about it for a week. And we prayed every night.
We had students come into our living room, and literally, we would pray from 11 o'clock at night till 7 o'clock in the morning. We'd pray all night long. And I went back to making lists: the advantages for going to the one school as opposed to the advantages of staying where I was. And it was overwhelming. My bias and prejudice was coming out on my sheet as all of the reasons favored my staying where I was.
what I would be happy to do for the rest of my life.
Well, it finally came down to the last day. of this time where I promised that I would give an answer to both sides and I had a student who said to me, he said, You know, you need to really be open to the leading of God in this matter, R. C. And I said, Well, I'm trying to be. And I said, I've been praying, and I don't see anything that would tell me to do anything but stay where I am.
And so that night he suggested that we pray that if God wanted me to go to Massachusetts. that he would have to let me know that night. And so we started praying that at 7 o'clock in the evening, and we broke up at about midnight. When it got to midnight, I said, all right, it's 12 midnight. If God wanted to call me to Massachusetts, he's had all the opportunity in the world to do it.
And so I don't need to pray anymore. The decision's made. We're going to stay here. And I'm going to see the President first thing in the morning and give him my decision. And so the students left our house and Vest and I went to bed.
and we were so excited when we went to bed because the decision had been made. And we were so comfortable in the decision, it was like a load had fallen off my back. 'Till we went to sleep. At three o'clock in the morning, I was awakened By a telephone. Ringing.
Well, what do you think when your phone rings at three o'clock at night? You think some terrible disaster has taken? I had to go into the kitchen and I picked up the phone. I was still half asleep. I picked up the phone and And the voice on the other end said, R.
C. And I said, Yes, he said, This is Eddie McIlvane. I said, Who?
So this is Ed McIlvane. I said, Where are you? What's going on? What happened?
Well, let me just tell you who Eddie McElvain was. When I grew up in Pittsburgh, This kid that lived up the street from me, who was four years older than I was, was Eddie McElvane.
Now, when you're growing up as children, how much interchange do you have with guys four or five years older than you are? I knew Eddie. And I liked Eddie, but we didn't play together. We weren't close bosom friends. And after he went away to college, and I went away to college, I never saw him for years and years and years.
The only point of contact I had with Eddie McIlvain was that my mother and his mother were good friends, and that's the only reason I kept in touch with him or even knew what he was doing. He was an airplane pilot for TWA based out of Boston. And I said, Well, Eddie, what's the matter? and I figured that something had happened to his mother or and he wanted me to go visit her or something. He said, you're not going to believe this.
He said, I'm in Kansas City. He said, and I got into my bedroom. An hour ago, two o'clock in the morning, my time. He said, and I couldn't get to sleep. And I've never had an experience like this, he said, but I felt like I had to call you and tell you that you must accept that job in Boston.
How do you know about this job in Boston? You know, whilst mothers have talked and all that sort of thing. And I said What in the world are you talking about? I said, What is it, Eddie? You missing the guys from the old hometown?
Or he said, No. He said, I don't know why I'm doing this. This is crazy. He said, Call the doctor if you want. He said, But I just had this thing come over me as I started to go to bed that I had to call you and it was urgent.
And he said, I didn't even know where you taught. I didn't know the name of the college. I just knew it was in some Town in western Pennsylvania. He said, I've been on the phone for an hour with the Pennsylvania operators, and they've looked in the phone books of every college town that they know of in western Pennsylvania. and they finally found your name in New Wilmington.
This tiny little town where I was. And I said, Well, you know, tell me why I'm supposed to do that. He said, I don't know. He said, All I know is that I had to call you and tell you. that you have to go to Boston and he said.
I'm not drunk. I don't know why this is. You deal with it what you want. I said, well, thanks for calling. I hung up the phone.
And I just kept saying over and over again, Incredible. This is incredible. And I went up to the bedroom. I wise well what happened? And I told her what happened.
She says, I can't believe this. I said, I can't either. It's a bulk world. We have no choice now. I said, we've been praying for seven days that if God wanted us to go someplace, He was going to have to make it absolutely clear in a way that we couldn't deny.
And I said What does he have to do? Send us a telegram from heaven? I said, I'm going to go to the president of this place tomorrow and tell him I'm going to Boston. And I went to see him, And I told him, and he said, You shouldn't make decisions like that. And he rebuked me and all that stuff.
But the more he talked, the more convinced I was I didn't have any choice. I even called Dr. Gerstner, that stayed Calvinistic theologian of all ages. I told him what happened. I was embarrassed to tell him, and he said, You know, God does strange things even in the most staid of Calvinistic households from time to time.
Well, what I felt like is if I didn't go to Boston, I'd be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. And so we packed up our stuff. And with a heavy heart. I drove away from the place that I wanted to spend the rest of my life. And went to that unknown.
place to serve. And I taught in that school for two years, two of the most miserable years of my life, and to this day, I have no earthly idea. Why God, if He did want me there, why He wanted me there, other than it was probably the only way He'd get me out of where I was to put me in the direction of where He wanted to send me.
Now I I am even hesitant telling you this story. Because I don't think this is the normal way that God leads us. And what I want to be doing in this brief series. is looking at the biblical ways in which God does lead His people. But I'm only telling the story for this reason, to let you know.
that I struggle with that as much as anybody. I will tell you one more student I had at that school back there in Pennsylvania. See was a senior and she was suffering from senioritis. She was unmarried and Didn't have a boyfriend. and she was afraid that she was destined for old made spinsterhood.
and she came to me for counselling and We talked about being single and all the rest. And she said, I just want to know what God wants me to do. If God wants me to be single. I'll be single. If he wants me to be married, then hurry up, do something about it, you know.
And we talked about it and so She went back, and a few days later she came and she was filled with joy. And I said, What are you excited about? She said, I was praying last night. And asking God, will I get married or won't I get married? She said, and I lucky dipped.
I said, You what? She said, I lucky dipped. I said, what are you talking about? She said, Well, I just closed my eyes and opened my Bible at random and put my finger on the text and then read the text to see what the Bible said in answer to my question. I said, you're using the Bible as a Ouija board.
I said, that's terrible. You can't read the Bible like that. She said, well, listen to what it said. He said, Rejoice, daughter of Zion. Behold, your prince cometh to thee riding upon a donkey.
She said, God told me that I was going to have a husband. I said, Wait a minute, this sounds like. You know, Cinderella. Or something.
Some day my prince will come, for heaven's sakes. I said, Well, the only way that's going to be fulfilled is if you see some guy riding across the quadrangle to Martha Hoon on a donkey and there's this fat chance of that.
Well Three days later, the Sky Fs are out. They start a relationship. They got married. He's in the ministry. She's been a minister's wife ever since.
And you cannot tell her to this day that God did not answer her specific question with her quite questionable manner of discerning the will of God.
Well, sometimes our desire to know the will of God is so intense That we resort to practices like that that I think are seriously displeasing to God. We can become the evil and adulterous generation. that seeks after a sign. and we can become so preoccupied with the explicit will of God for our lives. that we offend him.
by resorting to techniques that the Old Testament would have considered magic. and would have frowned upon with great disdain. And so what I want to do is look at Legitimate ways that the Bible gives us and sets before us. Of discerning the will of God.
Now, certainly praying for the leading of God. Is acceptable and pleasing to God. And I don't mean to suggest to you that God doesn't from time to time. visit us with extraordinary providential direction. But we call it extraordinary providential direction.
Because that's what it is. Extra. ordinary. And I don't think that we should simply assume That God is going to take us by the hand and move us from town to town and from job to job and relationship to relationship with. this kind of dramatic manifestations.
there is a real sense in which the just shall live by faith. trusting that God will lead our steps principally and chiefly through the directions that He gives to us in His Word. The chief way that we are to discern the will of God is by poring over the Word of God. And I'll talk more about that later on. But for now, just let me set the stage for this concern.
That it is a common concern among Christians to know What is God's will for my life? Does he want me to be a dentist? Does he want me to be? An astronomer? Does he want me to be a housewife?
What is God's calling upon my life? And we're going to be looking at those questions and see what kind of light we can derive from sacred scripture of discerning our vocation. Again, I've said this before. And some of you may remember it. that the term vocation is one of those words that is rapidly disappearing from our vocabulary.
and it's almost completely vanished in terms of its original meaning. Today it's used simply as a synonym when it is used for career or job or job opportunity. When historically the idea of vocation comes from the Latin word. to call. And the idea is that God does.
call us to particular tasks. and to particular ministries, and to particular endeavours and particular activities. And the chief thing that we do with our lives in terms of career, marriage, and that sort of thing. is related to the call of God. and we should seek an understanding of the call of God upon our lives.
And let me just give you a practical example of why that is important. Everybody in their career. goes through down times. sterile times. Times where the job gets frustrating.
times where it's involving us in conflict. And sometimes we wake up and say, why am I doing this? I don't know how many times in periods of discouragement in my own life and in my own ministry. I've asked myself that question. And how many times I've wanted to say, I don't want to teach anymore.
I just who needs it? And the thing that keeps me going is I keep coming back. to something that's very clear to me. But it is my Vocation. And if it is my vocation.
then I know that that's what I'm supposed to do. And I wish that every Christian that I know had as strong a sense of vocation on their lives as I have on my own, because it saved me all kinds of anguish to have that settled. in my mind. We remember the song K Surat Surrah, What Will Be Will Be. The introduction to that song is a little girl.
is asking her mother You know, what will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? You know, what's going to happen to me? And so on.
And her mother gives her the answer.
Okay. Sirrah, Sirrah. whatever will be, will be, in an attempt to dissuade this child from being preoccupied With the future. And there is a sense in which the Bible also warns us from an over preoccupation with what tomorrow is going to bring. We're not allowed to be engaged in fortune telling and that sort of thing.
That was a capital offence in Old Testament Israel. But there are questions about how we invest ourselves. in our lives that are of great importance to us, and the Scripture calls us to have a sober analysis of our gifts and talents, And to seek diligently to see the providential leading of God on our lives.
Now, if that's a question that is in your mind, I hope that you will stay with us and that you will contemplate. and ponder these things.
so that you can get it settled. in your own mind. and in your own soul. Yes, stay with us this week on Renewing Your Mind as RC Sprawl will continue to explore how we can better discern God's will for our lives. Earlier in today's message, Dr.
Sproll said that the chief way that we are to discern the will of God is by poring over the Word of God. And here at Renewing Your Mind and Liguing Your Ministries, we have many tools to help you pour over the Word of God. And one of those tools is Table Talk Magazine. 250,000 people around the world read this devotional and Bible study magazine every month. It contains weekday and weekend devotionals and thoughtful articles on that month's theme.
If you don't read it and you'd like to try it free for three months, simply visit trytabletalk.com. And of course, another resource to help you discern God's will for your life is the complete series that you're hearing from this week, Knowing God's Will. It's five messages, and we'll give you lifetime digital access when you give a donation in support of this daily outreach at renewingyourmind.org or when you call us at 800-435-4343. In addition to access to the series, we'll send you a copy of Doctor Sproul's book, Can I Know God's Will? This could be a wonderful read for a young person in your life or for someone in a season of transition.
as they seek to navigate the challenging questions they're facing. Request this week's resource offer when you give a donation at renewingyourmind. org or by using the link in the podcast show notes. Both resources are also available for our global listening audience at Renewing Your Mind. org slash global.
Thank you. If you live near Houston, Texas, perhaps you're trying to discern if the Lord's will is for you to attend Renewing Your Mind Live in Houston. It's coming up next month on March 17. I'll be joined by Joel Beeke and local listeners of the program for an evening of teaching, fellowship and giveaways. Every attendee will also receive a $20 voucher for use in the Ligoneer.org online store.
You can learn more and register today at renewingyourmind.org slash Houston. I hope to see you there. As you've wrestled with the will of God for your life, have you ever asked yourself, what have I been called to do? That's the question Dr. Sprohl will tackle tomorrow, here on Renewing Your Mind.
