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What Is God’s Will for You?

ARE you Mr. or Mrs. Average Person?

If so, you are very much aware of the problems facing this generation.

People everywhere are shocked by the breakdown in human relations, both in their immediate neighborhoods and throughout the world. City dwellers are horrified at the crime and violence in the streets. Farmers far removed from the wickedness of the big cities are worried over rising costs and uncertainties of the future. Businessmen are deeply troubled by labor troubles, international wars and economic pressures. Parents everywhere are fearful that their children will turn to drugs and end up degenerate addicts.

In the face of these realities, Mr. or Mrs. Average Person, have you given any thought lately as to what God’s will is for you? Or have you been too busy with your everyday activities, your personal problems of the moment and your plans for the future to think about this?

Sometimes we fail to realize it, but the very matters that involve us the most​—our daily problems and plans for the future—​are directly and inseparably related to God’s will for us.

After all, where did the water we now drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe originally come from? To whom do we owe this planetary home we call Earth, with its regular rotation that gives us sunlit days and moonlit nights, and with its tilted axis and its solar orbit that give us our varied seasons? Whom will we thank for the sun that heats the earth and causes vegetation to grow? for the oceans and atmosphere to regulate the temperature? Who made all these things and a thousand more, and then made humans far superior to the animals and capable of reproducing their own kind? There can be only one answer: our grand Creator, God Almighty, whose name is Jehovah!

Perhaps we incline to take these things for granted, to forget their Source, but our grand Creator did all these wonderful things for some very good reasons. The Bible clearly shows that he is a God of determination and purpose. And what he wills he does; none can stay his hand, change his mind or thwart his purposes.​—Ps. 33:11; Isa. 14:24; 46:10, 11.

And what were God’s very good reasons and purpose in bringing forth this array of creative works? Surely it was not his will that man should misuse and abuse his grand provisions, or that the earth be filled with the present chaos. The Bible tells us that the confusion in the earth today is the result of man’s sin and utter disregard for God’s laws. (Rom. 5:12; Jas. 3:13-18) But, fortunately, the Bible also discloses that six thousand years of sin and disobedience are nearing their end, and it is therefore hopefully expected that great changes will soon occur in the condition of both the earth and mankind upon it. What this will mean for us, you will certainly agree, should be our paramount concern.

GOD’S WILL FOR ALL MANKIND

God’s will regarding this globe is closely bound up with his promised Kingdom rule. Hence, in his model prayer, after saying, “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified,” Jesus next stated: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:9-13) So the coming of God’s glorious kingdom is necessary if God’s will and purpose respecting this earth are to be carried out as they are in the invisible heavens. Such divine government is under the direct administration of God’s beloved Son, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, to whom “all authority has been given . . . in heaven and on the earth.”​—Matt. 28:18; see also Daniel 7:13, 14.

How else can the myriads of evils this world system has accumulated be eliminated except by replacing the whole system? Reformers of all sorts have come and gone, but when we survey the sorry state of affairs earth wide, is it not clear that the present system is beyond real reform? What else can be done, then? In reality, the only remedy is to eliminate the present wicked system and replace it with a righteous new system. But as prophecy recorded by Daniel in the Bible shows, only God can and will do this very thing.​—Dan. 2:44.

It is hard to imagine how wonderful conditions will be under the administration of God’s kingdom. We can, however, get small glimpses of these blessings through the pages of the Bible. So take a little time and investigate these points in your own Bible: No more crime and violence, for “just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more.” (Ps. 37:10) No more disease, sickness and death, for God “will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:3, 4) No more revolutions or wars, since “nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.” (Isa. 2:4; Mic. 4:3) No more food or water shortages, for with God blessing the earth it will yield a superabundance, to the complete satisfaction of all.​—Isa. 35:1, 2, 6, 7; Ezek. 34:26, 27; Zech. 8:12.

What a happy prospect! Instead of the present joy-killing conditions, people will live in peace and tranquillity, with neither men nor animals to make them afraid. (Isa. 11:6-9; Ezek. 34:25; Mic. 4:4) The earth will gradually be brought to a state of perfection, to that of a paradise restored. What Jehovah has done for his people in the past he will also do for the entire dominion of the earth over which his heavenly kingdom rules​—“he will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert plain like the garden of Jehovah.”​—Isa. 51:3.

Even those in their graves will be resurrected and given an opportunity to live forever. (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15) What unity too when the whole world will be worshiping and praising the one true and living God, Jehovah!

YOU MAKE THE CHOICE

There is no forced obedience in God’s dealings with mankind. When he created Adam and Eve he gave them freedom of choice, either to obey or to disobey their Creator. So, too, as descendants of Adam and Eve we all have freedom to choose God’s Kingdom rule over us or to reject it. Making that choice is no gamble or game of chance. It is plainly stated ahead of time for us what results our decisions will bring. Obedience brings blessings and life; disobedience, cursings and death.​—Deut. 30:15-20; Josh. 24:15.

What then is your choice? The easy way, of course, would be to throw your lot in with the majority; but “following the crowd” is indeed a poor choice to make. History shows that when it comes to serving God the majority have regularly been wrong. The majority died in the flood of Noah’s day. The majority were wrong in their united efforts to build the tower of Babel. The same was true when destruction came on Sodom and Jerusalem, on the latter city both in the seventh century B.C.E. and again in the first century C.E. As Jesus said, the broad, easy road taken by the majority leads to destruction. It is the narrow, cramped way, which only the faithful few follow, that leads to everlasting life and true happiness.​—Matt. 7:13, 14.

Sound reason and logic therefore urge you to make the same wise choice that Jesus made. Of him it was written, “To do your will, O my God, I have delighted.” (Ps. 40:8; 143:10; Heb. 10:7) So when he took up his ministry he said: “My food is for me to do the will of him that sent me.” “I seek, not my own will, but the will of him that sent me.”​—John 4:34; 5:30.

Of course, Mr. or Mrs. Average Person, such a choice means a big change in your very thinking. But you will be happy if you make that change, knowing that only by transforming your mind from that of a worldly view of matters can you ‘prove to yourselves what the good and acceptable and perfect will of God is.’ (Rom. 12:2) You will then appreciate even more the apostle’s further counsel to keep strict watch on how you walk, in view of the wickedness of the times, and to “go on perceiving what the will of Jehovah is.”​—Eph. 5:15-17.

You will surely agree, then, that one cannot afford to go about his daily pursuits unsure, or worse, indifferent as to what the will of God is. “The world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.” (1 John 2:17) To this end, if you do not already have a free Bible study in your home, ask one of Jehovah’s witnesses today to make the necessary arrangements. By doing the divine will you too may live forever under the happy rule of God’s kingdom!

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God’s will is that the earth be made a paradise. You can benefit from it