Bright Spot: God can keep some secrets but his will can be seen

We have a love-hate relationship with secrets. What makes mysteries and thrillers page-turners is the secrets the reader is trying to uncover.

I was trying to figure out what to do while restoring a dresser with an irreparable drawer. I decided a false front hiding a secret compartment might intrigue buyers enough to overlook the defective drawer. It worked!

I recall hearing more than one TV detective predicting how a dying character would reveal key components of the case they were trying to crack because “people don’t like to die with secrets. He will have told someone ….” (Fill in the blank with a strategic secret to solving the crime.)

Some view the will of God as a secret. While we can’t know every detail of God’s will (that would make us God) there is so much of His will He wants us to know. So much of God’s will for us is clearly revealed in the Bible.

I’m not talking about decisions regarding what to eat for breakfast. Let’s see ... Post Toasties (unless you’re pre-millennial. Only prophecy buffs will get this.) or Raisin Bran. I mean important decisions like buying a house, taking a job or who to marry?

Take the last question. While the Bible won’t have the name of your perfect spouse written in its pages, the Proverbs give all sorts of key clues about who you should marry. Proverbs 31 tells about the perfect wife ... ambitious, good business sense, optimistic, sense of humor, takes care of family and the unfortunate, etc. This describes my wife to a "T."

Happy Anniversary babe! (Always trying to earn some points.)

Many Bible verses even more clearly reveal the will of God: “Give thanks in all things for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:18)

God’s will couldn’t be any clearer if He wrote it in the sky.

And a willingness to do God’s will once we know it is a key in His revealing His will to us in the first place: “If anyone chooses to do God’s will he will find out whether my teaching comes from God ….” (John 7:17)

Then there are the classic criteria used by church people for thousands of years. Right after God’s word, the Bible, there’s open doors/opportunities right before us, the wise advice of godly counselors, burdens he lays on your heart and mind that won’t go away. Then of course your mind. He’s given you a brain to do more than keep your ears separate. (The first letters of each make an easily remembered acronym – W.O.W.B.M. – I’ll explain in another article because I’m already getting near my length limit).

Then there’s Romans 8:28, which reminds us that in non-moral issues just make a choice. Using the above acrostic criteria will help. But God will bless you either way: “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.”

So go ahead and eat your Post Toasties or Raisin Bran. God doesn’t care and He’ll bless either choice for your good and His glory.

Rick Sams is pastor emeritus of Alliance Friends Church.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Columnist says God's will is easy to find in the Bible