5. 'What If?'

Over the years I have come across so many Christians whose lives are tainted by a fear of ‘missing the will of God’. I used to be one of them. I agonised over every decision I had to make, praying and fasting to try and find out what the will of God was for my life. In my younger days, I set out regular ‘fleeces’ before the Lord, trying to twist His arm into telling me exactly what I should do.

The problem was that most of my decision making was based on fear. Fear of making the wrong decision.

“If I take this job, will I miss His perfect will for my life?” “If I move location, will I mess up His plan for my life?” It’s hilarious, really, if you think about it – the very idea that we could mess up God’s plan for our life by making one wrong decision, like our making a bad decision is going to throw the God who created universes into a panic!!

Father God has a destiny and a calling on each one of our lives which He has purposed before we were even conceived. However, I don’t believe He sits in heaven waiting for us to make an unwise decision, and then says, “Right! That’s it! You’ve blown it now; you’ve stuffed up the rest of your life. It’s all downhill from here!” That is simply not in the character of our loving, gracious God.

I believe He’s more interested in the HOW than the WHAT. If we are walking with Him to the best of our ability, dealing with sin in our lives and pursuing Him with all our heart, then He will lead us on the right paths, no matter what job we are in or how many stupid decisions we make along the way. He is not bound by the parameters that we get so obsessed with, and we should not limit the omnipotent God of the universe to our narrow-minded view of how life works. 

For some people, it’s helpful to think of this scenario in terms of using a satellite navigation system. We enter the destination of where we want to go, and the Satnav will usually come up with a few different options of how to get there. We choose which option we want to take, and set off. However, if we take a wrong turning or end up going to the wrong way, the Satnav doesn’t blow up or shut down on us. It simply recalculates the different routes and finds a way to bring us back on track. We will get there; it just might look different to how we thought it would. We get to choose which route we take.

I know some people may think that that’s a simplistic way of understanding the will of God, but I find it really helpful.

I believe (and this is my personal opinion, so you are free to disagree!) that Father God has entered the destination in our Satnav, if you will, and we get to choose which route we take. If we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit as He leads and guides us on our journey, we’ll probably get there without too much trouble. But if (or, most likely, when!) we go a bit off track, He knows how to re-route us and bring us back to a place where we can continue our journey. As long as our hearts are toward Him, He will do that. The key thing is listening to His voice as we journey.

I genuinely believe that, if you are walking with God to the best of your ability and your heart is towards Him, you will not miss His will for your life, because He makes all things work together for our good when we love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

So let’s let go of the fear of missing His perfect will and focus instead on journeying WITH Him. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we are growing “from glory to glory”. What a fantastic promise! That’s how we journey with Him - every step walked with Him takes us into deeper levels of glory.

So forget about the ‘what if’s! Let go of those fears that try to trap you and just take the next step on your journey. Set your focus not on where you are headed, but on Who walks with you… your everlasting Guide.

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Until next time ….

Ask yourself the question, “Am I fearful about missing the will of God?”

Am I basing my decision on fear, or on love?

If there is fear in you, read Romans 8:28 and thank God that He will make everything

(even your mistakes or wrong decisions) work for your good.

Nicky Heymans is an author of historical fiction who is known for drawing fresh life and inspiration out of familiar Bible stories. She would love to hear from you! Please feel free to share your thoughts or ask questions by scrolling down to the bottom of this page and clicking on the 'contact' link, and she will get back to you.