My Devotional with Dr. Michael Youssef

Gideon asked God to confirm the will He had for his life. Will you ask God for confirmation and follow His will by making sacrifices?

One of the questions people ask most often is, "What is the will of God for my life? How can I discover God's will for me?"

We want to trust the Lord, not our own understanding, and we want God to make our paths straight, but we don't know how to discern the will of God.

In Judges 6, we see the people of Israel once again fall away from God -- and God must reawaken the people to their need for Him. So He calls another judge, a deliverer named Gideon. Gideon has an unusual way of seeking God's will for his life.

After giving Gideon an expanded vision of the mighty warrior he would become, God told Gideon, "Go." Gideon protested thinking God was sending him out in his own paltry, insignificant strength. So God corrected him: "I will be with you." But Gideon was still unconvinced and wanted some assurance that he could trust God's will for his life. He asks for a sign to be sure it is God who is speaking with him.

God understands our limitations and the weakness of our faith. He isn't offended when we ask Him for confirmation. God is patient with us, He knows we are dust, and He stands by us as we struggle to trust and believe Him.

And how does Gideon seek God's confirmation? He sacrificed. He didn't seek God's confirmation on the cheap. At a time when the Midianites were destroying crops and stealing the livestock of the Israelites, Gideon offered to God food that was costly and scarce.

We all want God to confirm His will to us, but how many of us are willing to sacrifice -- truly sacrifice -- to discover God's will for our lives? Gideon was willing to pay a serious price to discover God's will. And when the fire sprang up to consume the sacrifice, Gideon was terrified -- not because he was afraid that God would do him harm, but because he understood the profound seriousness of being face-to-face with the Creator of the universe. At that moment, he immediately called that place "The Lord is my peace" or "God is my total well-being."

It is not a sin to seek to confirm God's will for your life. In fact, God is pleased when we take His will that seriously. If we want to know God's will for our lives, we need to search the Scriptures with our eyes open. Everything we need to know about discerning God's will is found in God's Word.

Prayer: Lord, You are my peace and my total well-being. I trust Your purposes for my life. Show me Your will as I read Your Word and help me obey. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6).