As Christians, we often wonder what the will of God for our lives is. What is He calling us to do, as individuals or as a community? Thankfully enough, the Bible is here to guide us towards that answer. In the scriptures, we find the commandments of God, and through the Holy Spirit, we can understand God’s specific will for our individual lives. But once God answers us and tells us the “what”, i.e. what He expects from us, it is important for us to seek the “why” as well. It is important to mention here that, when asking the reason for a commandment to God, it is not to question His authority, wisdom, love, and holiness. It is not to avoid obedience, but rather, with the humble heart of a child asking His Father, to better understand and obey proficiently, with the right posture of heart. Here are a couple of reasons for the importance of knowing why God asks us to do something.

Firstly, knowing why helps us obey better. Imagine that God instructs you to eat an apple a day. Obedience without knowing the reason means you will eat one apple every day for the rest of your life. But imagine you ask God why, not to challenge His authority or argue, but simply to better understand, then He tells you it is because doing so will keep you healthy. When you understand the reason for the instruction, then you can obey better. For example, in addition to eating an apple a day, you can also eat other fruits, you can start to work out, you drink more water etc. Taking a look at the Bible, we see so many examples where God is rebuking the people of Israel through the prophets, and it most cases, they did not see what they did wrong because they went through the motions without ever asking why and trying to accomplish the real purpose of the commandment.  For example, in Isaiah 58, God is rebuking Israel because they are not fasting according to His heart. Yes, they abstain themselves from food and cover themselves in sackcloth and ashes, but they never understood the “why” of the fast. Though they are fasting, they are not pleasing to God. If only they understood its real purpose of humility, sacrificial love, service and generosity to one another…but that only happens when we know the “why”.

Secondly, knowing why helps us obey consistently, because we will not stop obeying until we reach the goal. Going back to our example about the fruits, we will not stop eating fruits and working out, even when we are tired, or do not feel in the mood because we know the purpose. Knowing why turns our one-time obedience into a lifestyle; a lifestyle of praying, fasting, giving, serving, because we are not only doing it to check it off a list, but for pure and godly reasons, revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

“…the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

I Samuel 16:7.

We are reminded in the passage above that in God’s eyes, the motive/reason behind an action give it its value, the heart’s posture speaks louder than the outward appearance, and our actions will only have their full impact if done with the right motives. Thus, it is only legitimate for us to ask ourselves: why are we doing this? Because no matter what we do, in God’s eyes, the reason for doing it matters much more. Therefore, ask yourself the following questions:

• Why do I pray? Is it because of fear, or faith? 
• Why do I give? Is it because I am trying to purchase God’s favour, or because of gratitude toward Him? 
• Why do I serve? Is it to be praised by others or out of love for others?

As for us in the Prayer Spring community, we bless the Lord for giving us a purpose and making it clear to us why we do the things we do.

• Why are we praying all night on Fridays? because the burden God has put on our hearts to pray for others is more important than our sleep.
• Why are we fasting and marching in our cities? Because we believe that God has given us as an inheritance every place that we walk on, and we want to reclaim our cities from the claws of the devil.
• Why are we serving our churches and communities? Because we want to shine our light before men, so that they may see our good works and give all glory to the heavenly Father.
• Why are we giving to contribute to the advancement of the kingdom of God? Because we want no one to perish but all to be saved, and this will only happen when they are reached by the good news of salvation and eternal life in Christ Jesus!

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