Finding God’s will. So common, the phrase almost sounds cliché. But no matter how many times we’ve heard or read about it, it’s always difficult to see the truth when, at the crossroad, both choices seem to weigh the same with every measuring scale in your hands- according to the word of God, logically, friends and parents advice, your heart, your head, people involved, financially ….the list is versatile and endless.

Recently, I found myself in such a situation. I am this person who doesn’t like to boldly make choices and pay the consequences. I think and rethink and ask a million people a million times for their suggestions. As naïve or as judicious as it may sound, it only made the decision harder for me.

Let’s say after a lot of beating about the bush, I finally decided to let go of my will and ask God. He spoke and all of a sudden, it all seemed so obvious. He had been speaking all along but my will had blocked the view. I realized how important surrendering was. Quite happy with this achievement, I paced the path joyfully and didn’t see the slightest hint of the bump that was coming. It did and for some time, my world seemed to come crashing down. Wasn’t this His will? Why had it seemed so clear? He is not a God of confusion, is He? He will do anything it takes to let sincere seekers see His will, won’t He? Why had it seemed like I was making the right choice? Will I be able to trust His will again?

To come up with these questions and a lot more wasn’t difficult. They took hold of me, shook me, confused me and blurred my vision. Why was God silent to my questions?  Didn’t He care?

My hands were tied in the situation. All I could do was pray….. and worry. I realized how helpless I could be in ‘my own world’ and trusting God was the only way out. But let’s say after a torturous period, things took a different turn and I was up again. In the next few miles of the journey, it wasn’t difficult to see that it had all been the will of God- yes, including the bump.

When we do God’s will, we tend to think things will go smooth and as planned. They will be planned alright but by no means glossy smooth. Today while reading a book, I couldn’t help but pause at what I thought shed a new light on my experience. Not wanting to miss anything, I quote the entire passage from Max Lucado’s ‘The Applause of Heaven’-

Go back and report to John what you hear and see. “The blind can see, the crippled can walk… and the good news is preached to the poor.”(Luke 7:22).

This was Jesus’ answer to John’s agonized query from the dungeon of doubt: “Are you the One who is to come, or should we wait for someone else?”(Luke 7:19).

We don’t know how John received Jesus’ message, but we can imagine. I like to think of a slight smile coming over his lips as he heard what his Master had said. For now he understood. It wasn’t Jesus that was silent; it was that John had been listening for the wrong answer. John had been listening for an answer to his earthly problems, while Jesus was resolving heavenly ones.

That’s worth remembering the next time you hear the silence of God.

Listening for the wrong answers- haven’t we all done that before? In the process haven’t we all missed what was most important? We’ve cried, begged, and fought over that that drop of earthly blessing while God was trying to send a heavenly shower

So the next time something earthly goes wrong when you’ve done God’s will, remember, there just might be something heavenly that’s being set right.