Discovering God's Will

by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Discovering God's Will draws out fundamental principles by which God guides us. It shows that the guidance God gives comes primarily through knowing, loving and obeying him.

Genres: Christian, Theology, Christianity, Christian Living, Christian Non Fiction, Devotional, Counselling

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Sinclair B. Ferguson is Associate Preacher at St Peter's Free Church in Dundee and also Distinguished Visiting Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was Senior Minister of First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, South Carolina and prior to that, he was minister of St. George's-Tron Church in Glasgow.

Reviews

[Kaitlyn Pindak · Rating 4 out of 5]

“All impatience can be traced back to a disbelief in God’s ultimate goodness. That is why, if we are to appreciate the wisdom of God’s guidance, it is important for us to understand not only the nature of his guidance, but the character of the Guide himself. Trust him for his goodness, and we will trust him for his guidance!”

Wisdom for those who are seeking to better understand God’s will and direction.

[Shannan Andersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshingly biblical advice on discovering God’s will for your life!

“We look for supernatural revelations, when God means us to live by his Word. We want to abandon our normal thought-processes, when God wants us to bear the burden of thinking through his purposes for our lives. We want to know immediately and intuitively what we are to do when he wants to repair us for the task by the slow and sometimes painful process of waiting”

“We will never come to know and enjoy the will of the Lord, and find it good, perfect and acceptable until we first get a True View of God, and his Fatherly character towards us“

I love all of the practical questions he gives to ask ourselves when faced with a specific decision:
-Is it lawful?
-Will it bring benefits, as far as I am able to judge, so that my relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ is strengthened? Will it draw me nearer to him?
-Will it benefit? Or will it have a tendency to consume my time, energy, and interest in such a way that I will be spiritually the poorer?
-Will this enslave me?
-Can I take Christ there and look him in the face without shame? Is this course of action, this decision I am taking, totally consistent with my personal confession that Jesus Christ is my Lord?
-Will it have a beneficial effect on others?

[Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise, biblical and practical ... the only book on guidance anyone would ever need, outside the Bible, of course!

[Shaun M. Hewlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another homerun for Dr. Ferguson!

For someone who wasn't entirely struggling with "discovering God's will" for my life right now, this book was a very helpful read full of godly principles to grow and I am definitely wiser on this side of reading it. With quotable chunks/pages/chapters the whole way through this book, you might want to read it with a notepad to make notes... unless you are one of those people who don't mind ruining... I mean.. marking books.
Would recommend to anyone who wants to know how to greater discern God's will. It doesn't come to us audibly but with careful study, guarding of our hearts and above all, applying God given wisdom from His Word. A solid 5 stars.

[Mark Wooten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ferguson gives incredibly practical wisdom regarding the finding and understanding of God’s will for your life. While there is a ton of good advice here, it boils down to two things: 1) Know the Word and 2) Wait on God. The Lord is good, and trusting him will do us good. Definitely read this whether or not you think you’re looking to “discover God’s will” because the truth here will benefit you.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.75

Impressed by this short read. So practical and down to earth. Takes something with the potential to be so mysterious and hard to grasp, and turns it into one so obviously clear and simple. Highly recommended. Wish I wouldve read it when I was in high school.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an immensely practical little book. Its target audience would be someone facing the major life decisions that come in the formative years of one’s early 20s. Though I’m well beyond that demographic, it’s full of wise principles that are applicable at any age.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapters 1-3 particularly helpful. Chapter 8 also good.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really, a modern classic on the top of discernment of God's Will. Here's a selection of "takeaways":

-God's will for our life will automatically include the glorification of Him.

-The main fount of guidance toward God's will is God's word, through its commandments, principles, and illustrations.

-It's often not that people don't know the will of God, merely that they ignore it.

-A brief study of what God has in store for the lives of Christians is the use of the verb "walk" in Ephesians (7x).

-When considering paths of action, consider: Is it lawful? Is it beneficial to me? Is it enslaving? Is it consistent with Christ's lordship? Is it helpful to others? Is it consistent with Biblical example?

Ferguson concludes with chapters on discerning God's will for marriage and career, a chapter on what it means to wait on the Lord, and thoughts on Psalm 23.

[jsn. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Are you feeling lost in life? Do you need God's guidance? Are you repeating to yourself that you "want to do God's will, whatever it is", yet you don't know what God's will is?

This book gives a very sound biblical exploration of how God guides us. It's important to note that this book won't tell you exactly what God's personal will for your life is. Don't think that by reading this book, you'll somehow be able to decide what career to pursue, or something like that. Rather, this book will explain key principles that will help us determine what God's personal will for our lives is.

This was a great book overall and I would recommend it to those wanting to know more about how God guides His people. Here are some of the key points I got from this book.

Chapter 1: God's ultimate purpose is His glory, so our purpose is to glorify Him. How do we glorify Him? We do so by becoming more like Jesus. We thus have to live like Jesus lived in order to become more like Him. This (sanctification) is a process that starts when someone becomes born again and will be completed not in this life. Remember, Jesus lowered Himself by becoming a Servant. He also suffered. This is the kind of indication of what God might do in our lives to make us more like Christ.

Chapter 2: how do we know what to do in order to glorify God? We read His word (the Bible) with the power of the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us understand how it can be applied in our lives. Whilst God did guide people using a variety of means (dreams, visions, casting lots and so forth), this is no longer needed because we now know Jesus through the scriptures. It is not necessarily the case that God would not provide unusual means of guiding us, but this would be consistent with scripture. How does scripture provide guidance? It provides commandments (the 10 commandments, commands gave by Jesus, commands gave by the Apostles and so forth); it provides "principles" such as the principle of putting Jesus above all of our possessions (which can be derived from stories like the rich young ruler); it provides indications of how God dealt with people individually. Lastly, making decisions is not about how we feel. Rather, we make decisions by thinking - it is essentially an exercise of judgement (so it would be helpful to weigh pros and cons about which decision would glorify God the best and so forth).

Chapters 3 & 4: we must guard our heart. This is because the more we guard our hearts, the more we would be aware of God's guidance and how to follow His will. If our hearts are cold towards God, we will be unable to discern God's will. We must walk in obedience. The only way to determine God's personal will for our lives is if we obey His revealed will found in the scriptures.

Chapter 5: there are certain "principles of conduct" we can use to determine God's personal will in our lives. This includes:
- Is the thing I plan to do consistent with scripture?
- Is the thing I plan to do beneficial in strengthening my relationship with Jesus?
- Is the thing I plan to do going to enslave me? (I.e. Is it going to make me fall back into a life of sin?)
- Is the thing I plan to do consistent with my personal confession that "Jesus Christ is my Lord"?
- Is the thing I plan to do consistent with Biblical examples, is this what Jesus and His Apostles (that aimed to act the way Jesus acted) would do?

Chapter 6: whilst God might not necessarily show us exactly where He wants us to go (like Abraham or Joseph), there are certain considerations we can take into account when identifying our "calling" or vocation. These are:
- Is the calling permissible for the Christian? (I.e. Is the calling sinful?)
- Is the calling compatible with the gifts God has given the Christian? (I.e. Did God make you a good speaker, or a good writer, or a good craftsman and so forth)
- Consider the needs (i.e. This could be the need for evangelism in the unreached world; perhaps God is calling you to be a missionary. Or, perhaps immediate family circumstances might need to be taken into account, such as the need to take care of parents which means you might be called to stay within their vicinity)
- Consider your personal desires (so long as this is compatible with God's revealed will).

Chapter 7: this chapter is about marriage [I skim read this chapter because it isn't applicable in my life 😂]

Chapter 8: we must wait for God to guide us. He will not necessarily provide guidance to us straight away. Rather, we must learn to be patient. God has a perfect time and He will lead us in His perfect time. Consider Joseph, if God allowed Joseph to be released from prison earlier than His plan, Joseph wouldn't have had such a great influence.

Chapter 9: Ferguson explores Psalm 23 in detail to demonstrate how God leads His people.

[Venkatesh G · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book by a great theologian. Sinclair Ferguson writes with pastoral warmth. He understands the questions sheep ask and leads them to scriptural waters for solid answers. Ferguson emphasizes that God's will is to be discovered, not only by using our mind but also by waiting upon God through difficult circumstances. He deals with the big topics of marriage and vocation and gives clear and biblical answers. Even though the book was written 40 years ago, it is still relevant. I would happily recommend this book to any Christian struggling to understand the topic of discovering God's will.

[Erik Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet, and wise.

The book can be summarized with this quote from the middle: “We look for supernatural revelations, when God means us to live by his word. We want to abandon our normal thought processes, when God wants us to bear the burden of thinking through his purposes for our lives. We want to know immediately and intuitively what we are to do, when he wants to prepare us for the task by the slow, and sometimes painful process of waiting.”

[Joseph Sawanowich · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read on the fundamental principles of determining the Will of God for our lives. The book is thoroughly biblical. Sinclair Ferguson's emphasis is that God's guidance comes primarily through knowing, loving, and obeying Him.

[Adam Lees · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can talk about abstract theology all day, the Christian faith comes alive when it meets real life. This is a hearty home-cooked meal of spiritual food in a world full of microwavable processed rubbish.

[David Goh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Razor sharp and Scripture-backed.

[Oliver Brauning · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's very rare you see a book positively cite both R.L. Dabney and John Brown.

[Sherri Bjorndahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always wanted to read a book by Sinclair Ferguson, and this was very edifying.

[Ming Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical and Biblical. Typical Ferguson.

[Gareth Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. The edition I read had a British Rail train on the front cover - an added bonus!

[Alexis Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reformed theologian (and Scot!) Sinclair Ferguson addresses the perpetually au-courant obsession with, well, discovering God's will. Published in 1982, this little volume (125 pages) pre-dates most of the popular books on the subject (you can tell by the refreshingly nonexistent subtitle). Or at least it pre-dates most of the ones I've heard of. Ferguson's position is somewhere between Phillip Cary's Good News for Anxious Christians and Dallas Willard's Hearing God, and in the vicinity of DeYoung's Just Do Something. Which is to say he focuses primarily on the Word of God and is an advocate of Christian liberty and responsible decision-making, but doesn't seem to be quite so dismissive of the idea of being 'guided by the Spirit.'

The book is loosely based around the 23rd Psalm--'he leadeth me beside the still waters' and through the valley and all that. The structure is a bit haphazard; the chapters read more like stand-alone articles than chapters in a single, unified work. Fortunately, Ferguson is a better writer than many of the preacher/authors in the Reformed scene, so the piecemeal nature of the work doesn't detract overmuch from the substance.

Ferguson starts out by centering the discussion: God's ultimate purpose is His own glory. Thus, any quest for His will turns on the question 'Will this glorify God?' Ferguson doesn't pretend that this question will provide the answer for all of life's dilemmas, but it's absolutely foundational to the issue of 'God's will.' From there, Ferguson reminds us that God is also working to make us like His son, and that, as in the life of Christ, this will likely involve a path through suffering to glory. I found this section both convicting and instructive. When I 'obsess' over God's will, how often am I genuinely seeking His glory and embracing His plan to bring me to glory through suffering?

The second section celebrates God's Word as the guideline for guidance--it tells us what tends to glorify God. If we expect God to speak His will into our hearts while we neglect His revealed Word, we are much mistaken. The more we study God's Word, and think well about His Word, the more we will understand His will. Ferguson then discusses the subjective heart conditions that are most conducive to understanding the will of God--fear of the Lord, humility, trust, and, as mentioned above, obedience--and the importance of living like a Christian. After all, in many situations, 'doing God's will' looks remarkably like simple (though not necessarily easy) obedience (a point DeYoung makes in Just Do Something).

Chapter five is perhaps the most practically useful chapter in the book. Ferguson walks through six questions (taken from I Corinthians) that a Christian should ask in determining whether to take a particular course of action:

1. Is it lawful? (That is, is it contrary to God's Word?)
2. Is it beneficial to me?
3. Is it enslaving?
4. Is it consistent with Christ's lordship? (How do I feel about the fact that I am involving Christ in this activity?)
5. Is it helpful to others?
6. Is it consistent with biblical example? (That is, the example of Christ and the apostles. Not, like, the example of Herod or King Saul or whatever.)

I have to admit, I've found these questions tremendously helpful ever since I stumbled upon an article based on this chapter a few years back. (Mark Driscoll used a truncated version of this list in the infamous tenth chapter of his recent book, Real Marriage.)

There is a chapter on choosing a career, and an obligatory chapter on marriage (the weakest in the book, I think, but not terrible; and after all, there are plenty of great books on marriage), followed by a chapter on waiting on God--because when all else fails, what else can you do but wait on Him? The final chapter is a meditation on the 23rd Psalm and the Lord's faithfulness in leading His people.

I really appreciated the tone of the book. Ferguson is gentle without being weak, and able to chastise without being disrespectful--a valuable skill set in the modern vitriolic age. I really enjoyed this book--both because of the solid advice and because Ferguson can actually write. Definitely worth checking out, especially if, like me, you're frustrated by the many simplistic or extreme viewpoints on the issue of Discovering God's Will.

[Ryan Linkous · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to see if it might be a good resource to work through with people who are interested in discovering God's will for their lives (especially college students). Ferguson gives your standard Reformed answers to such questions. It's a quick read that is accessible even though (and maybe because) he writes like a Puritan. 2 notes:

1. I was surprised at how encouraged I was by this book. Ferguson's writing, scripture citations, and the hymns he draw in made this a more edifying experience than I anticipated.
2. For the good of this book, I do have a significant disagreement with his main point which is when he cites the Westminster Shorter Catechism to answer the question of how we know how to glorify God in our lives. The quotation is: "What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him? The word of God...is the only rule to direct us how we might glorify and enjoy him." I have a very high view for the inspiration and authority or Scripture, but I disagree (especially as we discuss how to glorify and enjoy God with regard to seeking his will) because I do not believe the Bible is the only way to know how to do these things. I would instead say that Scripture is the first and final rule, but would also add the Holy Spirit through prayer and the direction of the church, primarily with regard to its local manifestation. These ought never contradict Scripture, hence it still remains the ultimate authority, but not the only one.

[Pinky Pun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. This book is a good guidance on how to discover God's will in our lives. I particularly encouraged by the last two chapters of the book, which is about waiting for the Lord and He leads me. He emphaised on the importance of quite trustfulness upon the Lord.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is classic Ferguson. He works through the theme of discovering God's will, and keeps the study closely tethered to the biblical text.

His treatment of the theme is clear-headed, practical, in touch with Reformed luminaries of the past, and ends in doxological praise of God, using wonderful hymns.

Here is a super brief synopsis:

Chapters 1-4 address the broader theme of following God's will. Chapters 5-8 speak to more particular situations (marriage, job, etc.)

Chapter 1: God's will for all human life is to glorify him and enjoy him forever.

Chapter 2: God shows us how to glorify him in Scripture. This is his revealed will for how we should live.

Chapter 3: To do God's will, we need to guard our hearts so that we want to obey his will.

Chapter 4: Following God's will produces a different lifestyle--one of love, light, and wisdom.

Chapter 5: When seeking to discover God's will in a particular situation, there are four questions to ask: 1) Is it lawful? 2) Is it helpful to me? 3) Is it enslaving? 4) Is it consistent with Christ's lordship? 5) Is it helpful to others? 6) Is it consistent with biblical examples?

Chapter 6: A similar question of like difficulty is 'what does God want me to do with my life?'-- Biblical thoughts: 1) Mark out the possibilities 2) Consider your gifts 3) Consider the needs 4) Consider your personal desires

Chapter 7: Marriage? 1) Be biblical in expectations for married life 2) Be biblical in preparation

Chapter 8: Looks at situations where we must 'wait for the Lord.'--how do we cultivate a character of patience?

Chapter 9: We need to remember that as we seek to follow God's will, thankfully, God the shepherd faithfully leads us.

[Mark A Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most common question about knowing God’s will receives a refreshingly uncommon treatment in the hands of Ferguson. Instead of a thinly veiled self-help book or insisting on a formulaic mantra in order to discover God’s will, we are reminded that the Bible tells us to seek God’s will by obeying His clear commands and trusting in His character. Practical issues like career and marriage are addressed in the context of personal holiness. Very highly recommended.

[Phil Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. It covers the issue of knowing God's will firstly by starting with God Himself, His promises to us, our relationship with Him and moving to our situation. I have found this a lot more helpful than a mere problem centred/ guidelines approach. It starts with the point that God is our shepherd, it emphasises that salvation isn't just about us but about God's glory and that one big issue with knowing God's will is often with our will.

[Helen Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is most helpful book on guidance I have ever read. It starts by saying who God is and that He has a plan for us. However it is more than just a book on guidance - it tackles the lifestyle of the Christian and how to examine our decisions in the light of obedience to Christ which may involve patience, perseverance and waiting for God.

[Luke Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise book on finding God's will. It seems to be written to the ideal reader (surrendered and sincere), so it does not cover the dangers and abuses of how people talk about "God's Will". Still, for what it covers, it is very good.

[Eric G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little book! Sinclair does a nice job of focusing on practical aspects of what is a hugely important subject. I found so many parts helpful I probably have at least half the book underlined and have been through it at least a dozen times.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful in understanding the concept of "God's will' from a Biblical perspective, and how it is we come to know it.

[Puan Sari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpfull in knowing God's will. Pokoknya bedalah dengan buku-buku lain tentang kehendak Allah. Kusarankan untuk dibaca... Dan juga dipraktekkan, hehe...