Have you ever been faced with an important decision in life possibly with a deadline, prayed fervently about it, yet did not get any clear direction from God? Have you ever found yourself studying the Bible, praying for spiritual illumination, yet no understanding beyond your current knowledge became evident? Have you ever earnestly desired to serve God in some capacity, prayed long and hard concerning your desires, yet still did not understand what next step you should take? If you have had any of these experiences, you may have wondered just why is it so difficult to know God's specific will for our lives?

This issue is particularly troublesome in light of certain specific Bible texts suggesting that the Lord actually wants to make His will known to us.

(Matthew 11:26-30)
27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

(John 16:13-15)
13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

(1 John 2:20-22)
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
NKJV

Indeed, the Bible itself claims to contain the principles upon which a correct relationship with God can be built. Moreover, it contains numerous admonitions warning us about failure to heed its commandments, nonetheless, men and women who have devoted their lives to a study of the Bible sometimes remain in disagreement over some of those basic precepts. If such thorough studies of the contents of the Bible cannot produce unified positions, what hope is there for us to learn basic truths about God and His plans for our lives?

With such Scriptures as those in the preview, we must acknowledge that the Bible does teach that God wants to provide us with direction in our lives. Yet most, if not all of us, have faced critical times when His will was unclear, though we sincerely sought it. This makes a serious study of this issue vital if we are to understand the possible reasons, so let's start with the following text.

(1 Corinthians 2:11-16)
11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
16 For "Who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
NKJV

This text teaches us one thing immediately. While it states that it is possible to "have the mind of Christ", it also indicates that we should not expect to hear from God unless we are spiritually connected with Him, for discernment about the things of God must come from the Spirit of God. Put another way, we should not expect to enjoy a useful dialog with God if we are not on speaking terms with Him. Is this not a reasonable bare minimum in our quest for God's will in our lives, and does it not have a parallel even in basic relationships with others? If we truly desire dialog with another party, it is the first rule of diplomacy that we must be willing to end hostilities. Only then can we have a proper basis on which to converse.

Still, it is admitted that the issue posed is not automatically resolved simply by taking this step, for I believe it is correct to say that understanding God's specific will for our lives is often a struggle even when our hostility with God has ended. Therefore, another question is advanced for your consideration.

The proper answer to this question would seem self-evident --- so we can take appropriate actions consistent with His will. Indeed, important information for any purpose is useful only if the recipients are of a mind to take action on it when provided. For example,

Similarly, God's specific will for our lives is of questionable worth if we are not committed to action when it is provided. Now of course, we might argue that such information at the very least would be "nice to have" so we could better evaluate our options. However, we need to remind ourselves that the Almighty God has attributes far beyond that of simply providing guidance to us. Included among those is His foreknowledge to know whether or not we intend to act on the basis of that guidance. Indeed, if we have no committed attitude to obey His will for our lives once provided, why should He provide it at all?

This train of thought leads naturally to the view that God's specific will for our lives cannot be divorced from our willingness to obey Him. Furthermore, such a conclusion appears to be supported by the following Scriptures that also provide amplification to this thought:

(Matthew 13:10-15)
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
11 He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they
have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand
with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.'
NKJV

These particular words by Jesus concerned prophecies in the form of parables, given to a multitude of people at the Sea of Galilee. When His disciples ask the reason for parables, He indicated that He deliberately spoke in this manner so they would not understand, concluding with the quote from the prophet Isaiah to the effect that their hearts were "dull", ears "hard of hearing", and eyes "closed". In other words, the information contained in these parables, though important, would not be applied by these people, so it would not be revealed to them.

(Matthew 21:28-32)
28 "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.'
29 "He answered and said, 'I will not', but afterward he regretted it and went.
30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir', but he did not go.
31 Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to Him, "The first". Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.
32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him."
NKJV

Jesus told this parable to certain Jewish leaders who were opposed to John the Baptist. In the parable, the specific will of the "father" was given to both of his "sons". They both understood, but only the son who initially rejected the father's will, finally obeyed. Furthermore, notice that the condemnation fell only on the son who at first agreed but then eventually disobeyed. Therefore it seems we are to understand that John the Baptist came with the will of God the Father, declaring it both to Jewish leaders and unlearned Gentiles. However, only the Gentiles who finally obeyed were approved by God. Hmmm ----- perhaps it's better not to ask for God's specific will in our lives at all if we don't finally obey Him.

The fact that the condemnation of the Jewish leaders stemmed from their unwillingness to "relent" and "believe" prompts a second question.

What is it that prompts some people to obey God while others disobey?

Chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament recites the names of certain people of God in the Old Testament who all seem to have possessed the common trait of faith. In fact, this Chapter is often termed "the hall of faith", because it connects their faith in God with the specific things for which they are renowned.

(Hebrews 11:4, 7, 8, 24-25, 30, 31)
4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.

24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.

31 By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who
did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
NKJV

The repeated connection between faith and obedience is inescapable; in each case the actions taken by these men and women were always related to their "faith". They desired to obey God because they had come to trust, i.e. believe, Him.

Conversely, those Hebrews who wandered and died during 40 years in the Sinai wilderness, never obtained the promised inheritance because of their disobedience stemming from their failure to trust God.

(Hebrews 3:16-19)
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
NKJV

I believe a little reflection on all of these Scriptures can provide us with a way to address the question, "why so difficult to know God's specific will for our lives?".

So we must conclude that God's perspective about this matter is almost the reverse of our own. When we ask God for His specific will, His answer often seems to come back, "trust Me". We are perplexed by what appears to be no answer or even indifference, but we fail to understand the vital links between (God's specific will <---> obedience <---> faith). We would like a simple answer to our question, but God knows a lot more about us than we know about ourselves. He knows that only faith in general will prompt obedience in particular, and only obedience in particular will produce the responses necessary to fulfill His specific will for our lives. Therefore such faith will not only yield His specific will for our lives, but will also cause it to be provided at the proper time to effect His perfect result.