“I don’t need to seek my purpose. If God wanted to show it to me, then He will!”

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here are people who feel like they do not need to clarify their purpose in life. In other words, they feel like if God was sovereign, and if He was the originator of purpose, He will at his own leisure and appointed time “notify” them. This is one extreme version of “waiting on God” that I have come across. Nevertheless, that question is valid and needs to be addressed.

What I am not sure is whether the person asking this question is humble or prideful, whether they are conceited or just scared, or whether they are proffering cover and comfort for the fact that they do not have a purpose in life clarified. To get the full measure of this topic, one needs to read a previous article that I did. In that article, I answer another question validly asked:

Can God change my purpose if I asked Him to?

The difference with the one asking this question is that at least they are intentional about the whole subject of life purpose. They are also conscious of the fact that they do need to live and serve a purpose in life. However, I sense some level of passivity and non commitment to purpose from the person asking today’s question. Before we can delve into the answer to this question, we have to understand that all of life is not arbitrary.

Intentional Life

All of life is designed to serve an ultimate and specific purpose. Therefore, there is nothing useless or arbitrary on the face of the earth. Everything living and non living was designed to serve a particular purpose. That being said, probably the question would be:

So how come very many people do not serve their God-given purpose?

One of my favorite authors of all time is a guy called Dutch Sheets. In his monumental book, “Intercessory Prayer” he starts by asking critical questions that I believe we can borrow from as we answer this question: Must I clarity my purpose for myself?

• Is prayer really necessary? If so, why? Isn’t God sovereign? Doesn’t that mean He accomplishes what He wants, when he wants? If so, why pray?
• Is God’s will for a Christian automatically granted or is it linked to prayer and other factors?
• Why does it often get so long to get a prayer answered? Why is persistence required?
• What about protection? Is everything that happens to me or my family simply allowed by God? Or is there something I need to do to procure our safety?
• Is there a right time for answers to prayer of does the timing depend on me?

Why Purpose Anyway?

These are powerful questions attributed to prayer, and I would love us to use them in the area of purpose. So let’s formulate our own questions mirroring those and ask:

• Is purpose necessary? If so, why? Isn’t God sovereign? Doesn’t that mean He accomplishes what He wants, when He wants? If so, why have purpose?
• Is God’s purpose for people granted automatically or is it linked to them seeking it among other factors?
• Why does it take so long to clarify one’s purpose? Why is persistence required?
• What about success and prosperity as well as failure and bondage? Is everything that happens to me or my family simply allowed by God? Or is there something I need to do to procure my prosperity and success?
• Is there a right time for me to know my purpose in life?

Well, fortunately enough, we do have answers to all of these questions. For answers on prayer, you can get Dutch Sheets’ book. What I can tell you though is that his answer to those questions he raised is the exact answer that I am going to give you here.

What is the question again?

If God wanted me to know my purpose, won’t He just do it without me having to seek for it?

Consider the following:

1. Is God In Control?

If God is in control of everything that happens on the face of the earth, then He sure has things messed up. We have people beheading others on live webcast, we have women being raped and trafficked for sex slavery, we have people dying in excruciating pain and diseases such as cancer and HIV AIDs, we have famine and drought, hurricanes and tornados as well as tsunamis. Is that what God is in control over?

The fact is that God ceded control of the cosmos, the world as we know it to the humans. We are the ones in charge. The moment God said, “Let them…” that was the official day that the cosmos was handed to us to take care of. In fact our general mandate is like this:

• Be fruitful
• Multiply
• Fill The earth
• Subdue it
• Have dominion in it

It therefore makes no sense to do nothing as a human “waiting for God” to clarify what our purpose and mandate is

2. The Brain and The Heart

God gave you and me a brain. That means that we can think and make decisions. God also gave us a heart, which is our seat of emotions. Through these two, we generate unique ideas that are heart-felt and create a need for their passionate pursuit. Through these two, daily God is dispatching people’s purpose to those who would download it. Through these two, we generate intentions, desires, wishes and dreams that are both godly and ungodly. The bottom line is that your purpose is found in your heart, the seat of your emotions. You already know what change you want to bring on earth if given a chance and resources. You do not need God to audibly point that to you before you can do something about it. Unless your heart is as empty as a vacuum, with no feelings, ideas, passion, anger or compassion, you do not need to lead a purpose-less life, waiting for God to tell you what to do! Come on!

3. Gifts, Talents and Skills

God has already equipped you with talents and gifts. These are a perfect suit to accomplish a specific task. If you have a computer that has a word processor for example, it follows then that part of the purpose of that computer is to help generate documents. If you are gifted in one way or another, it follows then that that is the tool that you need to deploy in order to fulfill your God-given purpose. These gifts can be both natural and spiritual. We all have them. It therefore is not wise to do nothing, and coast around in life waiting for God to tell you what to do.

4. Precedence

There is no record of God primarily using the suggested method for the life of everyone. This is what I mean. Yes, there have been incidences where God specifically told some people what to do when and where. These are so few and countable in all generations since Adam. However, God tells the rest of us that he will fulfill the desires of our hearts. In other words, God has hid some of these things in the deepest recesses of our hearts. It is not with Him, it is already with us.

5. Ask Seek Knock

Seeking is actually the greatest instruction that Jesus Christ gave. Even so God’s biggest instruction to humans is to “seek”, not to wait! There are very few incidences where waiting is legit…and that is mostly in times of adversity. However, seeking is paramount whether in adversity or not. Seeking is the SI unit of a believer and a person of purpose. Further, there is this greatest admonition from God to mankind:

You shall seek me and find me if you seek me with all of your heart.

To compliment that, God says:

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out

It is therefore not wise to sit and wait…God is saying over and over again to search, to seek, to ask, to knock. The ball therefore is in your court, not in God’s!

The Answer?

No, you do not sit there and wait for God to reveal what your purpose is. Yes, God wants you to know it but you must want to know it too. If you will not seek God for your purpose:

• You will not know it
• You will not pursue it
• You will not serve it
• You will most likely live outside of it
• You will not be fully deployed and fully effective
• You will not live a fulfilled life
• There will be more regrets and cries of “I wish I knew” in the end of your life.

So do yourself a favor, start asking. For whoever asks, it is given to them. Questions are answers in life. Whoever seeks finds and whoever knocks, the door will be opened for them. You cannot just sit there and wait. Get engaged now!