Finally, even if we have all the right methods, not everyone knows God’s will. A right method is useful only when the person is also right. When the person is not right, even the right methods become useless. It is futile for a rebellious man to seek to know God’s will. If a man wants to know God’s will, he must have an inward yearning to do His will.
Deuteronomy 15:17 records the case of a slave who had his ear run through with an awl into the door. This shows that our ears have to listen to God’s word all the time if we are to serve Him. We should come to the Lord and say, "I am willing to thrust my ear to the door. I will incline my ears to Your word. I want to serve You and do Your will. I beseech You from my heart. I will serve You. You are my Master. I have an earnest yearning within my heart to be Your slave. Let me hear Your word. Let me know Your will." We need to come before the Lord and plead for His word. We have to incline our ears and thrust them to the door. We have to wait for His commission and listen to His command.
Many times my heart aches over the fact that many people are looking for methods to know God’s will, but they have no desire to obey God’s will. They merely study such methods for the sake of knowledge. They have their own desires. They merely take God as their counselor and His will as their reference point. Brothers and sisters, God’s will is made known only to those who are determined to obey His will! "If anyone resolves to do His will, he will know" (John 7:17). In order to know God’s will, one must resolve to do His will. If you have an intense and absolute desire to do God’s will, God will make known His will to you even when you know nothing about the methods. There is a word in the Bible: "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him" (2 Chron. 16:9). The literal translation of this verse is, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is completely inclined towards Him." His eyes are running to and fro, from here to there. His eyes do not run through just once. Rather, they run continually to and fro to see whether anyone’s heart is after His will. He will appear to those whose heart is completely inclined toward Him. If your heart is completely inclined toward the Lord and you say, "Lord, I want Your will; I really want it," God will show you His will. He will not refrain from revealing Himself to you; He has to reveal Himself to you. We should not think that only those who have believed in the Lord for a long time can understand His will. We hope that every believer will offer up everything he has from the day that he is saved. This will pave the way for him to understand God’s will.
We should never think that it is a trivial thing to know God’s will. We are little worms in God’s eyes. It is a tremendous thing for a tiny person like us to understand God’s will! May we see that it is a glorious thing to understand God’s will. Since God has humbled Himself to make His will known to man, we must seek to know His will, and we must worship, treasure, and do His will.
(New Believers Series: Seeking God's Will #17, Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee)