God’s Will | Wayne Stiles

Archives For God’s will

The Via Maris Highway—Israel’s Picture of Your Influence

Where God places us is no accident.

Throughout biblical history, the land of Israel sat in an amazingly strategic position as the only intercontinental land bridge between the superpowers of the ancient world.

The most important international highway of the Fertile Crescent ran the length of the land of Israel.

The Via Maris Highway—Israels Picture of Your Influence The Via Maris Highway—Israels Picture of Your Influence

(Photo: The Via Maris ran beside ancient Tel Hazor. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

Some call this international highway the Via Maris, or the “Way of the Sea.”

Any nation coming to or from Egypt, or traveling from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Aqaba, had to go through Israel. For many years, Israel remained the crossroads for international imperialism, war, and trade.

It’s hard to believe at first, but this highway offers a practical principle for our daily lives.

It’s all about influence.

Walk the Path of Wisdom without Falling Off

The connection between between the first steps we take in making a decision and its final outcome often seems unrelated.

Walking the path of wisdom or the way of foolishness has domino effects far greater than we can imagine.

Grant park in the fall milwaukee Walk the Path of Wisdom without Falling Off

(Photo by Indy Kethdy. CC-BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

For us, a disciplined intake of Scripture certainly promises wisdom. But wisdom offers a course of action, not just a course of instruction. (Tweet that.)

The book of Proverbs reveals the outcome of the pathways we are walking.

And it tells us how to stay on the path of wisdom.

Apply the Wisdom of Creation to Your Struggles

The awesomeness of creation exists as more than beauty for us to observe.

In spite of the chaos in our culture, the world screams of order in its origin. Its predictable seasons and trustworthy laws of nature reveal wisdom in its design.

Laser Towards Milky Ways Centre Wallpaper Apply the Wisdom of Creation to Your Struggles

(Photo by http://www.ForestWander.com (CC-BY-SA-3.0), via Wikimedia Commons)

The wisdom of creation we see is explained in the Bible we read. Wisdom played such an integral role in creation that the author of Proverbs 8 personifies it as a person present with God:

“Before the hills I was brought forth . . . When He established the heavens, I was there . . . When He marked out the foundations of the earth; then I was beside Him, as a master workman”—Proverbs 8:25–33

God’s wisdom displayed in the wonders we see also proves His wisdom in all areas of life.

Including the painful ones.

Why God Allows Us to Crash and Hurt

I’ll never forget the day when one of my daughters learned to ride her bike without training wheels. (The “fall” was an appropriate season for this event.)

As she sped down a hill toward a huge ravine, I saw written all over her face the message: “I’m not in control!”

vivozoom 51493686 w 2 Why God Allows Us to Crash and Hurt

Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Vivozoom

As she raced by me, I reached out and lifted her off the bike—saving her from the ravine but causing her to fall. As the bike launched into the abyss, my rescued daughter hopped up hotter than a hornet!

“Why did you do that, Daddy?!” To answer, I simply pointed to the bottomless gorge I saved her from. But that didn’t matter. All she could see was that I caused her to fall.

Years later, I pondered how we can carry this same attitude into our relationship with God.

Why Does God Invade Our Comfortable Lives?

Everything was going so well.

A good job. Promising future. Nice place to live. Health in good shape. Peace among peers.

Then God got involved, and it all changed.

banana step Why Does God Invade Our Comfortable Lives?

Photo: David Gallaher, via Vivozoom

Ever had that happen? Me too. So did Israel of old.

The Hebrews sought opulent furniture, the finest food, first-class entertainment, the best wine and perfumes. But they did not seek the Lord.

Sometimes God invades our comfortable lives. He has His reasons.

The Secret of Choosing the Direction of Your Life

It’s always easier to react to life rather than to shape it.

After all, it’s one thing to respond well to what life throws at us. It’s another thing altogether to choose the direction of our lives.

Right Wrong Decision The Secret of Choosing the Direction of Your Life

(Photo: Andy Dean Photography, via Vivozoom)

I don’t mean we choose what happens to us in life. I do mean that God has given us the freedom to make significant choices.

Google Maps and God’s Will

Sometimes I wish Google Maps could give me traveling directions for life.

You know, what’s the will of God for—say, the next thirty years?

Imagine if we could zoom out to see the big picture. Or zoom in to get the details. Turn by turn, where we’re going, and how long it takes to get there.

For many of us, our problem isn’t our eternal destination—heaven. (Though, if you’re not sure about that, you’ll want to firm that up today.) I tried searching for “Heaven” in Google Maps, but it’s not there. But I located “Hell” in Michigan. (I guess it does freeze over after all.)

God’s Will For Your Life [Podcast]

Matthew 28:18-20

Finding God’s will for your life often seems perplexing. However, God has made it clear to what every believer should devote himself or herself.

Listen now:

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Gods Will For Your Life [Podcast]

Israel Tour Day 4—Sea of Galilee

The most striking place in Galilee has to be the Sea that bears its name. And the most striking time to see the sea?

Sunrise . . . for sure.

Sunrise on the Sea of Galilee flattens all objects into silhouettes and paints the sky a murky red. As the sun peeks over the eastern hills, it draws a line of light from the distant shore straight across the water to wherever you stand—and follows you like a spotlight.

The Sea of Galilee was—and still is—notorious for unexpected storms. A squall in March 1992 sent 10-foot-high waves crashing into downtown Tiberias, causing significant damage.

In the dark, early morning, sometime between 3 and 6 a.m., Jesus came to His disciples by “walking on the sea” (Matt. 14:25; Mark 6:48; John 6:19). But instead of expecting their miracle-working Lord, the dozen on board assumed Jesus was, of all things, a ghost!

He comforted them in reply, got in the boat and stilled the storm. Then Mark wrote what has always seemed an unusual line to me: “They were utterly astonished, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened” (Mark 6:51-52). They hadn’t learned a thing. Consequently, they had no idea what to expect!

These men didn’t expect Jesus to teach them about their inadequacy and dependency. Jesus had chosen the Twelve from out of all the multitudes who followed Him. They felt special. And as such, they expected special treatment. The storm struck them as strange because they expected Christ to give them privileged places in His kingdom. They did not anticipate Christ assigning struggles to change their hard heart.

If we’re honest, I think we’ll see that we resemble these men. The unrealistic expectations they had, which Jesus revealed, we also store in abundance. We have our agenda for how best to “serve God.” All other events—especially storms—just get in the way.

Tomorrow . . . Jerusalem!

(By the way, Israel passed a law on March 1 that bans fishing on the Sea of Galilee for two years! The number of fish has reached a dangerous low.)
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Why Our Means Seem So Meager

After settling in Canaan, God allowed His people to work the land. But every seventh year, God said, “the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord” (Lev. 25:4) and lie fallow.

The Sabbatical Year allowed for the forgiveness of all debts, and any food that grew went to the poor and to the wild animals. Then every 50 years, on the year of Jubilee, the land not only rested but also returned to its ancestral owners. And all slaves walked free.

However, in 586 B.C., after God’s people failed to observe the Sabbatical Year for 490 years, God exiled them for the 70 special years they failed to give the land (see 2 Chron. 36:20-21).

All this was to show that the land belonged to God, not to those who lived on it (see Lev. 25:23). Although they worked the land, it was God who provided, and He made them stop working to prove it. For even when they rested, God supplied (see Ps. 127:2).

Some principles remain unchanged. Anyone who has ever lost a job or sensed true sacrifice in giving to God’s work has felt the tension faith required in the Sabbatical Year. Faith involves trust and trust implies risk (from our perspective). While God is never late, He also is seldom early.

O God, never [allow] us to think that we can stand by ourselves, and not need thee. —John Donne

God provides for us in daily doses. As with Israel in the wilderness before the Sabbath, so our own efforts to gather extra only breed worms . . . and amount to nothing.

The Father longs that we understand He provides daily bread, not careers by which we’re set for life (see Luke 11:3).

God may keep us on the edge of our means, for there our need for Him is often more clearly recognized.

Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), p. 139. Used by permission. Images courtesy of BiblePlaces.com.