The Most Miserable Place to Be

Let’s be honest. When someone says God has been talking to them, we get a little suspicious and sometimes even a little concerned.

Does God really talk to us? Does the Lord speak to us? And if so, how can we learn to know the voice of God? How can we know the will of God?

We all need direction in life. We all have to make decisions that we need God’s input on, such as whom we’ll marry or what career we should pursue. But I think we have one of two views about God’s will that are not quite accurate.

The first view is that finding God’s will is really hard. We think God is sort of hiding it from us, like the proverbial golden egg. We think the Lord is saying, “You’re getting warmer. Warmer. Hot! Hot! No, cold. Cold. Cold.”

As a result, we think God’s will is something we can never find.

Then there’s the opposite view. We believe God’s will is something undesirable. It isn’t good, kind of like a diet, which is either boring or horrible. We think, “If it’s God’s will, it can’t be good. It can’t be desirable. It’s going to be miserable.”

Of course, both of those views of God’s will are false assumptions. God isn’t hiding His will from us. And the will of God isn’t bad. Here’s what we need to know: there is joy in the will of God.

The apostle Paul asked the believers in Rome to pray with him that he may come to them “with joy by the will of God, and may be refreshed together” (Romans 15:32 NKJV).

So when you’re walking in God’s will, there is joy. And when you’re not walking in God’s will, there is misery. The most miserable place to be is outside of God’s will.