What Am I Supposed to Do With What I Know? Learning to Follow God’s Will

For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with a question that sounds simple but has never been simple for me:

“What does God want me to do?”

That question has followed me through different seasons of my life. There have been times when I was looking for direction, times when I was facing a difficult decision, and times when I simply wanted to know what the next step was.

Today is one of those days.

Looking back, I think I have sometimes made God’s will more complicated than it needed to be.

I would search for the perfect answer, an unmistakable sign, or some clear indication that would remove all uncertainty. Before taking the next step, I wanted to know exactly what God wanted from me.

Over time, however, I’ve begun to realize something.

Maybe understanding what God desires from me isn’t nearly as difficult as I have made it.

The difficult part isn’t always knowing God’s will.

The difficult part is doing it.

That realization has challenged me because it forces me to look beyond what I have learned and honestly examine what I do with what I know.

Hearing God’s Word Is Not the Same as Doing It

James 1:22 says:

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Those words have a way of confronting me.

I know it is possible to listen to God’s Word, read it, study it, underline it, talk about it, and agree with it. Yet James reminds us that there is a danger in continually hearing God’s Word without allowing it to change the way we live.

In other words, knowing isn’t the same as obeying.

That distinction has become an important part of my spiritual journey because I think much of my wrestling has come from wanting more information when what God was really asking for was obedience.

The Day I Asked God, “What Do You Want From Me?”

Let me be very frank with you.

In 2022, I was riding my bike down Tully Road in Modesto, California, wrestling with this very question. Frustration had built up inside me, and I remember looking up at the sky and screaming at the top of my lungs:

“What the F… do You want from me?”

Of course, I didn’t get an answer.

Afterward, I even felt guilty for cursing while speaking to God. Yet when I look back on that moment now, I can see how my life began to change after that day.

At the time, I thought God wasn’t answering me.

Now I wonder if He already was?

Maybe He wasn’t withholding an answer at all. Perhaps He was already showing me what to do through His Word, and I simply wanted a different kind of answer.

I wanted a specific answer about my future when God was asking me to be faithful with today.

Clarity about the big decisions seemed important to me, while God was reminding me to practice obedience in the small ones.

Knowing the destination felt urgent, but perhaps He was simply asking me to take the next faithful step.

Proverbs 31:8–9 Makes God’s Desire Clear

Proverbs 31:8–9 has become especially meaningful to me:

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves… Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

There isn’t much ambiguity in those words.

Speak up.

Judge fairly.

Defend.

Those are things God desires from His people.

Sometimes we spend so much time asking God, “What do You want me to do?” that we overlook what He has already told us to do through Scripture.

God’s Word gives us clear direction about how we are called to live. We are called to love. We are called to forgive. We are called to serve. We are called to seek justice and show mercy.

Proverbs 31:8–9 takes those principles and makes them personal. We are told to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and to defend those who are poor, needy, vulnerable, or without power.

Understanding that command is not particularly difficult.

Living it can be.

The Wrestling Comes With Obedience

Even when God’s desire is clear, obedience can still be difficult.

Speaking up may put us in an uncomfortable position. Defending someone can cost us something. Doing what is right may make us unpopular. Helping someone can interrupt our plans.

Standing beside someone who has little power may require us to use whatever influence or resources we have.

Silence, on the other hand, can feel much easier.

One of the greatest struggles I have discovered in following God isn’t always figuring out what He wants.

Sometimes the struggle is deciding whether I am willing to do it.

That is a very different question.

Do I know what God says? Yes.

Do I understand what He desires? Often, yes.

Am I willing to obey when it costs me something?

That’s where I wrestle.

And maybe I’m not alone.

Forgiveness is a good example. I can know that I am supposed to forgive and still hold tightly to the hurt.

Love can be just as challenging. I can understand that I am called to love my neighbor while still avoiding someone difficult to love.

Generosity can expose the same struggle. I may believe that giving matters while convincing myself that I simply don’t have enough.

Then there is courage. I can believe that I should speak up for someone who has no voice and remain silent because speaking up makes me uncomfortable.

Trusting God presents another challenge. I can say that I trust Him while continuing to try to control everything myself.

The problem isn’t always a lack of knowledge.

Sometimes it’s a lack of surrender.

Faith Has to Become Action

That’s why James 1:22 and Proverbs 31:8–9 fit together so powerfully.

James tells us to “be doers of the word.”

Proverbs gives us an example of what doing the Word can look like:

“Speak up… defend…”

Faith isn’t simply what I know in my head.

Eventually, faith has to find its way into my hands, my feet, my words, my decisions, my relationships, and my priorities.

It has to become visible.

Christian obedience isn’t about earning God’s love or proving ourselves worthy of Him. Instead, it is a response to what He has already revealed through His Word.

God’s Word is meant to change how we live.

It should influence how we treat people, how we respond when someone needs help, how we handle forgiveness, and how we practice generosity, justice, compassion, and truth.

Knowing Scripture matters.

Living Scripture matters too.

Maybe God Is Asking for the Next Step

I’ve come to believe that God may not be asking me to understand everything before I obey something.

For years, I may have been asking Him for a complete roadmap when He had already given me enough light for the next step.

Tomorrow doesn’t have to be completely understood for me to be obedient today.

The entire journey doesn’t have to make sense before I take another step.

Every question doesn’t have to be answered before I respond to what God has already made clear.

That realization has changed the way I think about God’s will.

Instead of always asking, “God, what is Your plan for my entire life?” perhaps I need to ask something much more immediate:

“God, in what part of today’s journey can I meet You?”

Who needs me to speak up for them?

Who needs encouragement?

Who needs forgiveness?

Who needs compassion?

Where do I need to choose integrity?

Where am I being asked to trust rather than control?

Where am I hearing God’s Word but failing to put it into practice?

Those questions are harder than simply asking what God wants.

Now the answer requires something from me.

It requires action.

It requires surrender.

It requires obedience.

And that’s where the wrestling begins.

What Is God Asking Me to Do Today?

Perhaps that wrestling isn’t something I should be afraid of.

Maybe it is one of the places where God is shaping me.

Every time I choose obedience over convenience, courage over silence, forgiveness over bitterness, generosity over selfishness, and trust over control, God is doing something in me.

Through those choices, He is teaching me that following Him isn’t about having every answer.

Instead, it is about being willing to follow when I have enough understanding to take the next step.

I still wrestle with the question.

The difference is that I am learning to ask it differently.

Not simply:

“God, what do You want me to do?”

But:

“God, what have You already told me to do—and am I willing to do it?”

Because understanding what God desires from all of us is not difficult.

His Word makes His heart clear.

The difficult part is living it.

And perhaps that is where faith becomes more than something I believe.

That’s where it becomes the life I choose to live.

So today, my prayer is simple:

“Father, help me not just to hear Your Word. Help me to do it. Give me the courage to speak when You tell me to speak, the humility to serve when You tell me to serve, the compassion to defend those who need a voice, and the faith to take the next step even when I cannot see the whole path. Help me submit to Your Will above all.
In Jesus Name.
Amen.”