“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
Before they put astronauts aboard the spacecrafts that were sent to the moon, scientists used a rather elaborate system to keep missiles on the right path in space. In spite of their great accuracy, it seems that the missiles would wander or deviate from the correct trajectory and go off course. Now, the slightest deviation would cause them to go hurtling off into space forever, and miss the moon entirely. So, to correct the deviation, scientists installed tiny receivers in the rockets. From Cal‑Tech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a message would be radioed through space to the missile. The receiver aboard the spacecraft would translate the message, causing the rockets to fire for a precise number of seconds to correct the course of the space missile gone astray.
In a sense, the human soul is something like the receiver that was installed in the construction of the spacecraft. The record of Genesis in the Bible says when God created mankind, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living creature, but man rejected God’s will—His purpose for life—and that rebellion against God, which the Bible calls sin, caused the soul of man to die. Yet, when an individual recognizes his spiritual need and turns to Christ as his Savior, he becomes literally a new person. It’s like a radio receiver—burned out by a power shortage—replaced with one better than the old.
Now, if you would doubt that we desperately need the guidance of God in our lives today, take a look around you—people you know—who, in spite of the direction God gives in the Word, have made shipwrecks of their lives. The man who is unsaved is like the captain of a ship who refuses to use the radar unit, because he says, “I’m the captain of my fate. I’m in control,” not knowing what lies ahead in uncharted waters, when the radar unit could guide him through dangerous rocks and reefs.
Now, perhaps you’re thinking, “Do you really mean—are you trying to say—that God, through His Holy Spirit, can give me guidance today in the 21st century?” I mean to say just that, but like the volume of a radio receiver, it is possible to have the volume down so low, spiritually, you don’t hear the voice of God.
You may be like the friend who stopped on the corner of a downtown street to talk to a blind friend. The noise of the traffic made conversation almost impossible, but the blind man stopped and said, “Did you drop a coin?” Sure enough, the friend looked at his feet and there was a coin that had dropped out of his pocket as he reached in for his keys. “How could you hear that?” he asked the friend. “Oh,” he replied, “you hear what you’re trained to hear.” The man without his sight had trained his ears to compensate for a lack of vision.
With the darkness of the world pressing upon us, we need to train our ears to hear the still voice of God. Incidentally, God’s voice is a quiet one that can be drowned out by the clamor of ambitions and desires in the world. If you are uncertain as to what you feel is God’s will, ask yourself three questions: 1. Have I honestly put aside my own will? Can I pray as Jesus did, “Not my will, but Thine be done?” 2. Have you determined that you will do God’s will when He shows it to you? Not “take a look at it and if you like it, then do it?” 3. Is the direction you feel in your heart—that tug within—consistent with what God says in his Word? When you can answer yes to those questions, you may be reasonably certain what you feel in your heart is the will of God. Then, go ahead and do it, and don’t look back.
Resource reading: Matthew 6:5-15.
