Discerning God's Will

I was recently gifted a new journal. It's not really a typical journal. It's called a Daily Devotional Journal. Each page--365 of them--begins with a Bible verse. There is then a short devotional by Darlene Sala that takes up about half the page. The other half of the page is blank. I thought, given what we've been through, there's really no better time to start a once a day journal. I have a lot to say right now. But I know myself and I know that while I want to try to write just a little bit every day, I will start off with great enthusiasm and, approximately six days from now, I will forget to journal and then I might as well just give up forever. So I am dating my entries. That way, when it takes me 2,750 days to complete a 365 day journal, I'll at least know what days I said what.

Yesterday's entry was pretty personal and, though I generally bare my naked soul to the world on this blog, I'm keeping that one to myself. Today's, though, was all about the will of God. The verse referenced was "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." Colossians 3:20. The devotion was about seeking the will of our Father. Just as we expect our children to obey us, so we should choose God's way. The journal section is open-ended. I assume I'm supposed to meditate on the verse and think about what the author said and then respond.

Here's what I came up with for today.

Discerning the will of God is not easy. Sometimes it's as clear as crystal and other times it seems as murky as the River Jordan. So we pray and we search His word. We search our own heart and our own motivation. We find ourselves, leaning. Feeling swayed a certain way. Perhaps we already know what we're going to do. We just need to give ourselves the permission to do it. Then, we pray again. "Lord, I think this is what you would have me do. If it is not the choice you want me to make, show me clearly and swiftly." We should always desire to be walking in the will of the Lord, always discerning what that might be, and always hoping He will reveal His plan to us.