I sat in the restaurant and poured out my problems to my friend. She listened and cried with me. But her question jarred me. What do you want God to do?
I love her straightforwardness.
Jesus was the same way. When followers pressed in around him, when lepers cried out to Him, when blind men reached for Him-He often asked, “What do you want me to do?”
The question probably startled them as well. Well, isn’t it obvious?
We want relief.
We want You to fix our circumstances, to deliver us from pain, to heal us, to change hearts, to drive away our enemies, to cause our problems to disappear, to make it all go away. To be God in the details of our lives. To do something-anything-on our behalf.
Sometimes He acts by intervening in dramatic ways. Parting seas, commanding walls to fall down, defeating the enemy by raining down hailstones from heaven, pronouncing healing in an instant, breathing life into the dead. Other times, most times, in fact, He uses His still, quiet voice and whispers His direction into our hearts.
When the leaders of the early church faced an issue of great dissension and debate, they came together for discussion. They examined the words of the prophets. They reflected on the wonders of God. Prayer is implied, because they mention agreement with the Holy Spirit.
The next part, my friend, author and speaker Jan Winebrenner pointed out-they used good judgment. “It seemed good to them.” (The writer of Acts 15 uses this phrase three times.)
It came down to presenting the problem to God, examining His word and previous works, and using thoughtful consideration to make a decision that “seemed good” to them. Then they acted.
Sometimes God’s will is like a glorious sunset painted in the sky. No doubt it’s from God.
Other times, He acts in more subtle ways. He gives us the wisdom, courage, and strength to act, to follow the direction of His leading, to reason through our circumstances under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.
Although I’m kinda partial to standing on the sidelines and watching God move mountains, sometimes He wants us to be more involved in the process of working through our problems. God often leads us to use good judgment-common sense-to do something ourselves.
