On Finding God’s Will

To my children:

These are excerpts from Exodus 35:21-22,26, and 36:2, passages about building the tabernacle shortly after leaving Egypt.

‘And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord ’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments… All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets … All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. ‘ ‘And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. ‘

God’s means of accomplishing his purposes in this scenario was not via prayer and fasting, but simply people doing what their hearts wanted to do. The point seems further corroborated by the phrase ‘every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill.’ Where did the skills that their hearts stirred them to use come from? Yes, God deliberately, calculatedly, put the talent in their minds.

I do not say we should obey our hearts, only that we should listen to them. Moreover, this context only supports following your heart with regard to specific skills – what we do with our hands – not who to marry or how to behave, which are matters of morality.

So when I urge you to pursue a path in life that you love, be it mechanical engineering, video games, flying, dancing, crocheting, drawing, singing, this is what I’m getting at. I believe God put specific desires in each of you, deliberately, methodically, and he wants to accomplish his purposes by you following your heart to use those skills.