God Doesn’t Care What You Do

Good thoughts Justin. As long as our hearts are right before God and we walk in humility, we can be used no matter where we go.

Yeah, I think he cares, but I think you’re asking the wrong question.

He cares in that he cares about you, your family, the way you live your life, but where I think this question is off-kilter is that what you’re really asking is does God have a preferred decision for you to make in the instance.

So while this question may raise a lot of controversy, I think you need to redefine the question because if you’re really asking “Does God care how I decide in this matter”, then the answer is a resounding “yes.” The fact that He loves you and wants to be involved in your life means that He takes interest in your life.

If your asking, “Does God want me to choose a particular color, location,etc” I think He’ll just smile knowingly and wait and see how you decide.

Great question, Justin. My wife and I went through a similar experience in deciding to move from Ohio to Kansas. We did make the move, but I struggled with what you are describing at times… I didn’t hear a clear “yes” or “no.” We ended up making the move and it was definitely the right decision… we’re almost three years out from it now.

I’m not a parent so I can’t know for sure, but it seems like the parallel is there. God cares what we do in the same way you care what your children do. You may not “care” what your daughter eats for lunch as much as you care that she is safe everyday. It’s that “pesky” free will thing, where we get to decide but we know God has a plan

Great point Justin. That’s a much better question to ask. I agree that God cares how we decide. He’s not oblivious to our decisions.

I’m glad to hear it worked out well for you! That’s very encouraging.

Oh, and I’m making sure my daughter brings carrots with her to school for lunch.

I’m in the camp that says go for it! It’s scary, but getting rid of stuff is fun. We’ve been giving things away and selling in anticipation of something happening. It’s freeing!

Justin – I’d actually go the opposite direction on this. God is involved deeply in fine-grained decisions we make. I’d maybe chose a different phrase to describe this. I wouldn’t say God doesn’t “care”, I would say that it may be that he has little to no preference in choosing between a “red” car or a “blue” one. But when it comes to life decisions such as that which you’re currently contemplating I’d be certain that he’s very concerned about it and determining his will in this situation would be priority number one. I guess I see this more as “God is in control” than whether or not he cares because I think he really does. Jerry Bridges talks a lot about these things in an old book called “Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts” (which is highly recommended if you’ve not read it).

In my opinion, I’d be sure to take the route that Brandon took and get a lot of Godly input. “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” If it doesn’t become clear, then maybe the time isn’t right, and personally, I’d wait. If it is, then you know what to do! In my opinion God will usually do something wholly unexpected in situations like this where there is potential for large-scale transition and change and take you in a direction of which you have not yet have even conceived.

But hey, that’s just my opinion!

Sometimes the Lord has specific plans for an individual. One case in point was the calling of Samuel. Though “the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision” (1 Samuel 3:1), yet the Lord specifically called Samuel. At first, Samuel did not recognize it was the Lord speaking, thinking that it was Eli calling him. Yet Eli instructed Samuel to tell the Lord, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9). Samuel was open to hearing the Lord’s voice and the Lord was with him and used him as a prophet.

At other times God’s people are not given special instructions, but are simply called to be faithful stewards of the Lord’s gifts – as in the parable of the Talents. He gives us choice how we are to invest yet makes it clear that we will be accountable for how we use what we are given.

Gary Friesen’s book, Decision Making and the Will of God, presents a well-argued case for there being an area of freedom and responsibility within the moral will of God. Where there is not a specific command, we are expected to exercise our best judgment, within the context of wise counsel.

Hope some of this is useful.

Grace and peace,
Erik

Justin, you have a point there. I believe unanswered prayers are answers themselves. Sometimes we pray for things that just don’t matter (ie: the example you used of the color of car). He doesn’t need to influence that decision.
The OPTIONS you have today are influenced by the actions we took yesterday. If we take a wrong turn but continue to communicate with our Father then he will keep directing us towards his plan for our life. You would have to continue to ignore the COMMON SENSE he has given you and the LIFE LESSONS you have learned to stray that far off the path where he can’t bring you back.
As far as your Move/Don’t Move option: I don’t think you can lose either way.

Justin, this is a question much like many others that we face in life. what should we do. what does God want me to do. Questions that I think must be answered and probably you already have are: why are you wanting to make the move? Do you feel called to make the move? Depending on these answers will help you. If you are not feeling called but believe that there is some other significant reason then is the reason maybe the question? If God wants you to make the move I believe that he will lay it on your heart to do so. If you are not getting an answer maybe that is the answer. Be patient.

Mark Copeland

I totally agree. Read a book a few months ago “Just do Something” by Kevin DeYoung. I am guilty of it also but we christians spiritualize things too much. We suffer from having too many choices. For example, when men came home from WWII they worked the same job there entire life and lived in the same place, were they less Godly than us that can pick a hundred places to move and about the same amount of careers? I think no, its Just our culture that now has to have 401k’s because no one stays at companies for a career. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pray or should seek a multitude of counselors. If your goal is to bring God glory and make your Work about worshiping Christ, just make a decision and do it. And Justin do not move to a place where biblical community is not, not saying you shouldn’t be a missionary either, but take the wisdeom of what happened to Elimelech’s family from the book of Ruth.

Sounds like a great book title. Thanks for the advice!

God’s primary interest and concern is the relationship you have with Him. By petitioning Him for guidance and direction regardless of the decision at hand you are showing Him you care about and trust Him. Placing trust in faith in Him for any decision is what He is looking for in us, from there He will direct and guide us according to His will and as others have said our personal talents.

Justin – Interesting that you have mostly if not all men answering this question (can’t tell on a couple of the tags). Nice to see so many Godly men in one place!

My perspective on this is that if you truly turn a decision over to God and seek His will, He will provide direction. I also believe that if you don’t or if you miss His direction, He will use you where ever you are. Kind of like the discussion in the Calling Group at FAA a while back regarding a GPS. I have always thought GPS stands for God Patiently Steering. The bottom line for me is that if you are doing life with a good heart in service to others and seeking God’s will in the process, He will meet you where ever you are and use you according to your willingness to let Him.

This is just my perspective which I have developed from experience with God doing just that with me for 50 years!

That’s really good stuff Kevin. I really like your list. It just rings true on so many levels.

I do agree Dave. Man, you guys have a story.

Thanks for sharing that quote. That’s pretty impactful.

One great thing about God is that he isn’t trying to trick us. Although there will be mystery and things we don’t fully understand, he isn’t playing hide and seek with His will for our lives. There was a time in my life where I AGONIZED over decisions similar to this one, and never got a celar direction. I started to think something was wrong with me because I wasn’t hearing from God. I then learned the freedom we have to walk in his revealed will and make decisions in what some would call his permissive will. Not all of my close friends agree, but I am confident of it.

I hear you there Wes. That’s one thing we can count on is for Him to lead us down the right path; as long as we listen and figure out what that path is.

Justin – I recently finished plowing through “Decision Making and the Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View”. Let me try to break down 423 pages…
God’s will can be described (at least) 3 ways:
- His will for His ultimate plan for the universe and your part in it (sovereign will)
- His will for you to follow Him and live a God honoring life (moral will)
- His particular will and plan for your life (individual will)

God’s sovereign will you can do nothing about – you bump up against the edges of that and you get visited by angels, you fall in battle, your donkey rebels against you, crazy supernatural stuff… because it just isn’t gonna happen. Ultimately He reigns. As a believer that’s pretty easy.

God’s moral will is clearly provided to anyone in scripture. Don’t take people’s stuff. Be honest. Treat others as you’d like to be treated. If you’re contemplating bending the rules, then you’ll be stepping outside of God’s moral will – the Bible calls this sin and has something to say about how tragic it is for you and those around you. The stuff is so toxic it can only be cleansed by blood.

Now – to God’s individual will for you. If you would’ve picked the red car over the blue car – it would’ve caught the attention of that guy at the grocery store and he would’ve approached you and that meeting would’ve sparked a beautiful and beneficial life long friendship. To bad you didn’t pray harder about it. Does God work on that “micromanaging” level?

The book says: No. As long as you stay within God’s moral will (and you can’t help but stay within his sovereign will…) you are called upon to merely use wisdom and counsel to make individual decisions. So your brand of bottled water, your car color, the college you graduate from, your career, your spouse … those choices are all up to you.

Now to be fair, in those pages somewhere the author does concede that God may have a detailed map of your life – but nowhere in scripture (and he analyzes all the popular “finding God’s will” passages he can find … and then some) does the Bible say that you should sit down and have God show you which shoe to tie first.

So I take away from that, that he may have the plan down to which shoe to tie first on this Thursday, but He doesn’t deem it necessary to bog you down with that kind of detail.

OK – so here’s where I struggle… Why bother seeking His guidance for the details? Just pray, double check His word to see that nothing immoral is being contemplated (may be more work than you think…). But once that’s done – you’re on your own, just go do whatever seems right in your own eyes << yeah, I snarkily picked that turn of phrase.

Using your example of moving… is it immoral to stay? Is it immoral to go? Then it would seem that it doesn’t matter, so why bother asking? And that’s where the struggle starts with me…

I say it does matter. I just can’t put my finger on how, exactly, it does. Maybe the answer is not in the asking, but in the kind of person you would have to be to include asking in your process (this was mentioned in other comments). Maybe that’s the answer.

Trying to pinpoint the issue for me (it took me HOW MANY words to get to a pinpoint?? :p ) is that a lot of Christians spend a lot of time seeking their Heavenly Father’s opinion on all kinds of minutia. Are those wasted minutes on our knees or not? It’s quirky, and cutting edge to say yes – but my heart says, no it’s not wasted. Maybe we just think it’s wasted because we don’t get the audible booming voice we expect (or think we deserve??).

Food for thought – chew well.

Great verses Jim, thanks for sharing.

Yeah, it gets you thinking, doesn’t it Craig? I love your take on the
results of our efforts rather than the details.

Great analogy Christine. I’ll take that to heart.

Yes, God cares deeply about the decisions we make. However, he gave us a brain to use, and to make the decisions that we are most passionate about. Everything we do and say is a reflection our priorities. That said, the main thing to remember is; we are either moving towards God’s will, or we are going in the wrong direction – away from God. “Nothing in this universe stands still, including human beings.” ~Earl Nightingale

Here is the final word though:
Colossians 3:23 (ESV) Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

Suddenly found myself on your blog, and don’t know how I got here, but I’ll share my story, my conviction.

You got it! In the human context, God doesn’t “care” about choices in car color or taking out the garbage now or in the morning. I faced the exact same dilemma: Become a pastor in Aspen or stay put? Before I tell the answer, I’ll share the process. My then co-pastor surprised me as I sought His will as to where I serve. “Gary, He doesn’t care. He has plans for Aspen. Has plans for you. He’s utterly sovereign. Best you do what few Christians “seeking God’s will” do: first identify YOUR desires…under one condition. That you wish more than anything to serve Him. That, in heavenly fact, is second only to the Main Thing, that you live a life of utter and complete trust in and worship Him. It is as Johnny Calvin said, the “chief end of man”.

WHAT!!? “God doesn’t care ‘where’?” (I still remember the sense of anguished surprise.) Not exactly. He wanted me to identify my heart’s desire, boldly step forward and request it of Abba/Daddy. And, wait.

No, I didn’t become Aspen’s pastor (MAN, did I want it…and the skiing and hiking between sermons). I did co-found a mission agency, build early models of “business as mission” around the world, build and run a ranch, etc. All of these after wife and I decide what we wanted and sought His blessing and guidance. Aspen got their pastor after the surprised call from the committee saying He lead them to decline my selection, an almost sure thing. I heard God say, “Thanks, kids, for asking. I see you really want it. But, no. I’ve got something else in mind.” We smiled remembering how similar that was to our children asking for an ice cream cone before mealtime. We moved on by not moving. Now I have a rich life of fathering and grandfathering (hence my book and blog, http://www.generationalfathering) with stories galore to share with the six Gkids of my legacy.

The fact that you’re asking the question “what does GOD want me to do?” puts you above 95% of the American population.

Great question Justin. When I struggle with this sort of thing I always think about times when the Apostle Paul made decisions on his own without Divine guidance. Certainly Paul was directed by the Holy Spirit at times but he also made decisions on his own. 

For example, Acts 20:16 or Titus 3:12 both indicate that Paul made a decision about where he was going to travel or not travel to spread the Gospel. In either case God used him to accomplish the purpose of spreading the Gospel.

It would seem that God allows His people to make decisions on their own. However, He has provided His Word to help influence and guide those decisions. I think sometimes God’s answer to our prayer is, “I want you to decide.” 

So I love the way Donald Miller puts this in his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years (a must read by ALL).

Don says that God has given each of us various skills, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses and then hands us a pad of paper and a pen and says, “Go! Write the story of your life.”

I LOVE this picture. I personally believe that God made each of us and therefore what we are good at or not good at are things God wired into us. God also gave us freewill, so how we use what God placed in us is up to us. He desires, wants, and tries to encourage us to do good things, great things, God-inspired things with what He’s given us, but it’s up to US to do it.

Along with the picture Don paints he goes on to say that if you look back and don’t like the story your life has been telling then change it. There are things that happen to us in life that we can not change, but we can determine how we will react.

For me, I realized that I want a different story going forward. I firmly believe that everything that has happened in my life, both good and bad, have made me the man I am and positioned me at this doorstep to a GREAT future. But I intend on living life intentionally going forward instead of bouncing from one unplanned event to another.

Great post, Justin!