Michael Hasel interacts with young people on a daily basis as a professor at Southern Adventist University. In this episode he shares principles that have helped him and the young people he has mentored find answers to one of life’s biggest questions: How can I know God’s will?

<p>Michael Hasel interacts with young people on a daily basis as a professor at Southern Adventist University. In this episode he shares principles that have helped him and the young people he has mentored find answers to one of life’s biggest questions: How can I know God’s will?</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Joel Moutray

Sean Wycliffe

Learn and Share

01 - How to Bridge Business with Ministry

Dan Serns

02 - How Literally Anyone Can Share Their Faith

Allen Lloyd

03 - How to Defeat Depression and Thrive

Clive Coutet

04 - How to Get Started as a Christian Creative

Frank Hasel

Esther Louw

05 - How to Deal with Suffering and Loss

Israel Ramos

06 - How to Survive and Grow on a University Campus

Michael Hasel

07 - How to Know God’s Will for Your Life

Alistair Huong

08 - How to Lose Your Debt and Save Your Life

Aubrey Seiler

Seth Shaffer

09 - How Faith and Farming Intersect

Chris Matts

10 - How to Actually Use Social Media for God

Michelle Arthur

11 - How to Reach the Deaf

Karen Glassford

12 - How to be Involved in Adventist Missions

Micheal Goetz

13 - How to Preach with Excellence

George Jackson

14 - How You Can Make an Impact in the Middle East

Clifford Goldstein

16 - How to Excel as a Christian Writer


When Gideon wanted to know God's will, he left out of police and asked God for a sign. But is life really that simple? Hi, I'm Esther Loh and you're listening to the Learn and Share podcast. In this episode, Michael Hasel from Southern Adventist University shares how you can know God's will for your life. Hi, welcome to the podcast, Dr.

Hasel. It's great to have you here. Today we just wanted to talk to you a little bit about how to discern God's will for your life. But before we get into that, I would love to know more about you. What's your background?

Who are you? What do you do? I am a professor at Southern Adventist University. I've been teaching there for 20 years now. This is my 21st year.

And before that, I grew up in a professor's home as well, and my mother's a teacher as well. My dad was a pastor and theologian and grew up in an academic community. So, in a rural place, out in the country, it was a beautiful, idyllic kind of setting to grow up in with lots of wonderful memories with relatives and friends and growing up in the church and growing up as a Christian in a good Christian home. And probably in that setting mission was always something that was really important in our family, in our life. My parents saw their mission in the education field and we often would travel overseas and that was always something very, very interesting to me.

That's awesome. Now talking about your own experience with Having a walk with God. When did it become a question your mind about how you could determine what God wanted you to do in life? Well, that's that's an interesting question. I think for me, it became very personal for me, my walk with God, when I was 12 years old.

We had a very well-known evangelist that came into town and did an evangelistic series at our church. And I made a decision. I went forward and accepted the Lord as my savior. And that was a very meaningful experience. I was baptized shortly after that.

And growing up, I loved stories. I loved to read. I loved to experience different things. I think many times what I have found over the years working with young people, it's finding what you're passionate about. Sometimes that passion is connected with, hopefully, God's will for your life as well.

Already at a very young age, Shortly after I was baptized, I listened to a Your Story Hour tape with Uncle Dan and Aunt Sue. It was a story about a medical doctor who found a cure for a major disease, yellow fever. It fascinated me. Walter Reed and the discovery of the cure for yellow fever. And I thought, man, that is so cool to find a cure for a disease and save thousands of lives for who knows how many years.

So that just kind of captured, you know, even these doctors that risked their lives to test themselves, and some of them died in the process, was just really an amazing thing to hear and to listen about. It was a short tape, and I would listen to it over and over again. So almost before I could say the word, I think already in seventh and eighth grade, I was, I wanted to be a bacteriologist, a medical researcher that focused on finding the cures for diseases. And that's what I would tell everybody, even into high school, into my academy experience. But that made a dramatic, there was a dramatic shift and it happened during a visit with my grandfather in Germany during 1 of the summers.

We would often visit, every few years we would go to Germany to visit my grandparents. And my grandfather, who was a seasoned pastor, evangelist, I remember between Sabbath school and church, took me out into the area there in Mainz, Germany, and took me for a walk around the church and I still remember him asking me What do you do want to do when you grow up? I? Was I think a sophomore in high school and I told him the same thing that I've been telling people for several years. And he was quiet for a really long time, and he said, you know, it's wonderful to have a goal in life where you want to save the lives of other people and to find the cure for diseases.

But let me share with you something from my experience. And we stopped on the sidewalk, I still remember, it was kind of this pregnant pause. And he was already in his 80s And he had a back problem. He was all bent over and he looked up at me kind of Stretched his neck to look up at me, and he said there's nothing that can compare with saving a life for eternity and I had never thought about ministry in that way before in my life. I had grown up, my dad was a pastor slash theologian, but I never thought of ministry that way.

And it was a kind of like a light bulb went off in my mind. I thought, Wow, saving lives for eternity. And of course, we don't do that. The Holy Spirit does that and the Lord does that, but he said there's nothing like partnering with the Lord and saving a life for eternity. So that began the wheels turning and I began to think things a little bit differently.

And about a year later my dad invited me to go with him to the Middle East. He had an appointment in the Middle East, a speaking appointment. And he said, you can go along if you want to pay your own ticket, you can go with me. It's a 10 day trip. And I went.

And that was a fascinating journey for me because I again was exposed to places and people and sites and experiences that made the Bible come to life in a really unique way. And so the idea of ministry, coupled with science, coupled with history, coupled with traveling, began to open the world up a little bit to the idea of archeology, which is what I do. And so that was the beginning of that process. And you know, it's interesting when you look for God's will for your life. I think sometimes, yes, the Holy Spirit works on your heart, but so do other people that are important in your life.

That's a great point. And listening to those voices, you know, godly parents, godly pastors, relatives who have your best interest at heart, your own pastor, teachers who know you and who have worked with you, is part of that process, I think, often. And you know, just listening to what you said, sharing your story, there was no way for you to know when you were 12 years old where God was gonna take you, right? Right. Because you hadn't had some of those experiences or knowledge of what's out there.

And you hadn't seen these events come into your life. So it's almost like for you, it wasn't a instantaneous moment where you just knew, but it was a process where you began to know what God wanted you to do. That's right. That's a great illustration of God's leading in our lives. And I think being open to God's leading and humbling yourself and not, you know, We do set goals for ourselves, but at the same time, keeping that openness to God's leading is really important.

So taking a shift here, you talked about your own life, but for those who are listening here, I know myself a few years back, I would struggle so much. I don't know what God wants me to do. How do I know what his will is for my life? And 1 of the questions that I used to have is does God have 1 specific will for my life? Or does he give me options that I can choose from that are equally good?

That's a really good question. I think God created us with a purpose. We're not simply here to live for ourselves. I think we're here to serve others, and Christ, of course, exemplified that when he came. And so looking at Christ as our example, service to others I think is first and paramount.

You can do that in so many different ways. And finding that niche where God can use you the most effectively. It can be a journey, I think, as well. It doesn't always happen overnight. You don't simply wake up 1 morning often and oh, this is what it's gonna be.

Sometimes that does happen. And sometimes God uses the experiences that you have in life and brings them all together later in time as well. I think of my mother-in-law who's a very godly person. She had a bachelor's degree, 2 master's degrees, and when they immigrated to this country, my father-in-law was a pastor and evangelist. She struggled because she didn't find work at the beginning.

She was cleaning houses and wondering, is this what God has for me in my life and as purpose. And she was a pastor's wife, but then later on in life, she began to train, part of her job for the Adventist Church was to train other pastor's wives and encourage them in their roles. And all of the things that she had experienced in various capacities over the years all seemed to come together in those last 13 years of her ministry and career with her husband. So sometimes there's a waiting process and sometimes the road I think is hard and I wanna emphasize that because we tend in our fast-paced society and fast-food society and instant gratification society to want to know and to have everything now, or yesterday even. But it's important sometimes to think about that it's not always what's easiest that is going to bring us to the place where God wants us to be.

And sometimes it's the hard road, the narrow road as Jesus describes it in some cases, it's the narrow road that brings us finally to the place where he wants us to be, and it can be a longer process involved in that. I'm noticing here that it's not just about this 1 kind of individual calling necessarily, where you have a Damascus Road experience and this is your mission for the rest of your life but it's more about knowing God's will moment by moment and it may or may not make sense for a long time. Right. That's awesome. So if we're talking about this practical finding the will of God in your life, what methods does God use to lead us into that pathway?

How do I know that I'm not just following my ideas or my desires? How do I know that I'm not just following my ideas or my desires? How do I know that I'm actually following God's promptings? That's a good question and it's difficult because it is somewhat subjective sometimes and you can doubt yourself as you go through that process. But I think that the Holy Spirit works in such a way, often where you, I tell students this, especially students who are thinking about theology or pastoral ministry, if you come to the place where you will not be happy doing anything else and you know that this is the path that God has for you, even though it may not be the most comfortable 1, that's the path that you need to take.

And there's, I think, 2 most miserable people in the world. Those who have fought God and gone their own way because they somehow didn't think that what God had in mind for them was what they should do. And those that are in a situation where they are extremely, you know, they're in ministry or they're in a certain situation but maybe that's not what God had planned for them in that particular situation. And so I think there are those cases. And so you have to be very honest with yourself and listen to the counsel of those around you.

So you're talking about these 2 people, 1 who's fighting God's will and the other 1 who might be in ministry for the wrong reasons. Does God's will always conflict with our desires? I would guess, I ask this because sometimes you have this idea that God's calling you to ministry, therefore it'll be something you don't like, or the things that we are drawn to isn't God's calling. Is there a middle ground between this? Do our passions have anything to do with God's will for our lives?

I think absolutely. I think God knows us better than we know ourselves. And I believe that God puts us in situations where he knows we can be most fulfilled and where we can make the most impact for him. So in my case, for example, some people may look at archaeology and say I would never be caught dead in that field. I mean, digging in the hot sun, you know, and all this kind of thing.

I love what I do. I absolutely love what I do. I get to live my dream of what I've always wanted to do on a daily and yearly basis, and it's extremely fulfilling. I get to combine that with evangelism, and I get to combine that with teaching ministerial students and other students to take the Bible seriously and look at it from a different angle and a different perspective than perhaps they have before. And particularly in the scientific age in which we live, where science has become kind of our god, really, to be able to do that through a science and to be able to look at that perspective from that angle and to answer some of the questions that often are raised from science, I think is very, very powerful.

So in my sense, I feel like I'm not a bacteriologist, but I was able to fulfill that scientific side of me, the ministry side, and it all kind of came together. And for every person that's different. You know, for every person, those passions are different. Somebody who is an extremely caring individual, extremely a people person, maybe an amazing nurse or physician. I found out later I faint at the sight of blood.

So that probably would not have been a good field for me in hindsight, you know? And God knew that ahead of time. And He helped me through that process to figure out maybe this isn't the right field for you. I have great respect for people in all different fields. As long as we're open to God using us in those fields, that's what matters most, I think.

That's awesome. What I'm picking up so far is God can lead through the people in our lives who know us and can give us advice through our own natural gifts and desires, things that we're good at, we enjoy. Are there any other ways that providence is obvious, that we can see God working in our lives? I think there is. I think prayer is extremely important in this process, studying the scriptures and really seeking the Lord and being open to his direction.

Sometimes, because it's subjective, we can convince ourselves that a certain direction is the direction we wanna go when it may not be God's direction that we should go. And so it's extremely important to really be honest with ourselves and honest with God and say, is this really what you want? And I remember an experience like that in my life where I wasn't sure whether I should go into pastoral ministry at that junction in time or whether I should go into a PhD program. And I put out a fleece, a very clear fleece, and God answered that prayer in the clearest way possible. Wow.

That allowed me to know without a shadow of a doubt that that's what I should do. And I look back at it, hindsight is always 20-20, I look back at it now and can say that God really, really directed in that process. I think both would have been a blessing and would have worked some way, but following God's lead in that case allowed even a better outcome in the end. That's really practical there. So not just listening to those voices of people around us and seeing the gifts that God's given us, but really being willing to surrender what our own motivations might be to see, you know, are we putting ourselves in between what God is trying to lead us to?

So coming now to our final question, and we've talked about the will of God and how we can really know what he's wanting us to do in our lives. What if we get to this point where we miss God's leading? Maybe he's leading us to somebody for marriage or a career or something else, and we just miss that, and we make other choices. Is that will of God lost forever? I think God is always working in our behalf, in our circumstances, and he always has the best in mind for us.

So I think it's extremely important not to give up when you make wrong choices. We all make wrong choices sometime in life. Sometimes those choices are bigger than others, like marriage or career. I think marriage maybe is the biggest 1. But God is working with us, and even through those situations, He can work in amazing ways if we give our lives to Him.

And He can redeem marriages. He can bring a spouse to him through deep prayer. It's not the ideal route to go, but there's always redemption, I think, in those situations. And I think that the most important thing when it comes to those big decisions is to be making the small ones with God as you go along and as you get to the large ones, allow him really to guide you, seek the counsel of wise people around you, again parents, pastor, people that know the situation and no, I don't think, I think God is always working, always working in that direction. Okay, so I hear a word that you just said was God's ideal will versus how he can redeem our own choices.

I guess this means that you know if we do miss his ideal will which would primarily be something that he knows would be the easiest and possibly best pathway for us he could still make the best out of the mess that we might have made in our lives. And sometimes, you know, God's, life is fluid, life is in flux, life is unpredictable, and things happen in life that you cannot make choices over. A spouse can pass away, a child can die, things can happen, accidents happen, things happen. So God is working in an imperfect world. We're imperfect, but we also live in an imperfect world, and I think we have to recognize that in that imperfect world, we have a heavenly Savior who is still seated upon his throne high and lifted up, And when we place ourselves at his feet, he can take our circumstances and somehow, I think, use them for his glory and for his honor.

And that's something that I think is extremely important to recognize as we go through life. Yes, I think he has a plan for each 1 of us. He works with our ideas, our plans sometimes, and if we submit those to him and completely surrender to him, he can do things that are beyond our wildest imagination, I think. And I've seen that in my own life as well. That's a beautiful way to end.

It reminds me of the Bible verse in Romans 8, 28, where it says that God works all things together for good to them that are called according to his purpose. Thank you so much for sharing with us today and we appreciate your time with us. It's great to be with you. Thank you. Thanks for listening.

Don't forget to hit subscribe and share this episode with your friends. To learn more, check us out at learnandsharepodcast.com.

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Learn and Share

07 - How to Know God’s Will for Your Life

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Other Teachings in Series

01 - How to Bridge Business with Ministry

02 - How Literally Anyone Can Share Their Faith

03 - How to Defeat Depression and Thrive

04 - How to Get Started as a Christian Creative

05 - How to Deal with Suffering and Loss

06 - How to Survive and Grow on a University Campus

07 - How to Know God’s Will for Your Life

08 - How to Lose Your Debt and Save Your Life

09 - How Faith and Farming Intersect

10 - How to Actually Use Social Media for God

11 - How to Reach the Deaf

12 - How to be Involved in Adventist Missions

13 - How to Preach with Excellence

14 - How You Can Make an Impact in the Middle East

16 - How to Excel as a Christian Writer

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