The Mind of the Lord: Discerning the Will of God When Faced with Difficult Decisions

Listen to today’s passage – Leviticus 24 – 25

Follow along on Blue Letter Bible – Leviticus 24

Second Milers also read – John 17 – 18; Proverbs 12; Psalms 61 – 65

Listen to this morning’s Scripture Song – Psalm 47:1

Read the “0212 Evening and Morning“ devotion for today, by Charles Spurgeon.

Read a previous related post from this passage – “Rest for the Land“

Have you ever faced a decision that felt urgent—like a family conflict, job change, or moral dilemma—and felt tempted to just react in the heat of the moment? Today’s passage shows us a better way:

“And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them.” (Leviticus 24:12)

Did you catch the phrase – “the mind of the Lord?” The New Testament echoes this idea:

“For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16)

God wants us to have his “mind,” especially as we grapple with difficult decisions and challenging problems.

In our reading passage today in Leviticus 24:10 – 16, we read about a man who had a mother who was an Israelite from the tribe of Dan, but his father was an Egyptian, presumably one of the mixed multitude that followed the Jews out of Egypt. The story tells us that this man (the son) “blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed” (Leviticus 24:11). The Israelites brought the man that blasphemed God to Moses, but they were not sure what should be done to this young man by way of punishment, so they put him in prison (“in ward”) until they could find out “the mind of the Lord.” In other words, they were trying to discover God’s will.

My thought this morning has little to do with the fact that the man blasphemed. Nor does it have anything to do with the mixed nationalities of his parents. What caught my attention was the fact that Moses and the Israelites did not react hastily to the situation, they waited until they knew what God wanted them to do. They want to be sure that they knew “the mind of the Lord ” regarding what should be done to this man.

What a great lesson this is to all of us reading this passage today. So many times when faced with new or difficult problems, we react rashly before we carefully discern the will of God regarding the situation. Proverbs 3:5-6 states:

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

There is a recipe for discerning the will of God that contains four ingredients:

1  Wait – don’t do anything until you know for sure that you are doing the will of God. Too many of us rush into a decision before we have had a chance to determine what God wants us to do. My children would sometimes come to me asking for permission to go with a friend somewhere, and sometimes they would need an answer right away, and in those cases the answer would always be “no.” Why? Because I didn’t want to be rushed into making a bad decision. I can still picture their disappointed faces when I said “no” because they were trying to rush me. Imagine the tension in the camp as the people held back, refusing to act until they heard from God.

2  Study – Go to God’s Word and see what it says about the problem you are facing or the decision you need to make. Bible principle will answer so many questions before they are even asked. This is why it is so important to be reading daily in the Word of God and to study it often (2 Tim 2:15). 

3  Pray – Ask God to give you wisdom to help you specifically apply His word to your unique situation. In our story today, the specific situation that Moses faced had not clearly been addressed in the Law, so they needed God’s help to figure out what to do in this unique set of circumstances.

4  Counsel – Seek the wisdom of others who may have already faced the situation that you are facing. Seek the help of those who are students of the Word, and have the ability to discern God’s will through study and prayer. “In the multitude of counselors there is safety.”

When deciding on a major life change like moving for a job, wait before signing anything, study verses on seeking wisdom, pray daily, and talk to trusted believers.

We may be tempted to think that the punishment for this young man’s crime was kind of harsh, but at least we know that the decision to stone him did not come from Moses or one of the other elders of Israel; it came from God. Moses and the men of Israel made sure that they were doing exactly what God wanted them to do.

What difficult decision are you facing today? Will you wait on the Lord, study His Word, pray for wisdom, and seek godly counsel?