On How to Find Out the Will of God

What does it mean to be smart? Different people will answer this question in different ways. Some, for example, will call smart those who know how to earn money and become rich, or those who have managed to gain power, or who have gained fame and glory, or who know how to live beautifully and for their own pleasure. In short, to be intelligent for these people simply means to succeed in mortality. "We live on earth only once," they will say, "there will be no second time, therefore, we must strive with all our might, acquire wealth, power, and enjoy life while there is time." The logic here is simple: let's eat, drink, have fun and take everything from life, because tomorrow we will die.

Of course, many people will not be satisfied with such a frankly low concept of the human mind, and when asked who can be called smart, they will say that an intelligent person is someone who has received a good education, acquired wide erudition, speaks several languages, traveled a lot, knows a lot, and so on. "It is interesting and useful to communicate with such a person," they will say, "such people are really smart." Still others will say that an intelligent person is an experienced, insightful person who knows life and people and knows how to apply this knowledge in his life. Such or similar answers are usually given by worldly people to the question of who can be considered intelligent.

Christianity, however, answers this question in a very different way. Here is what St. Anthony the Great says: "People are usually called clever because of the incorrect use of this word. Not those are clever who have studied the sayings and writings of the ancient sages, but those whose souls are intelligent, who can judge what is good and what is evil; and they flee from the evil and soul-harming, but they take reasonable care of the good and soul-beneficial and do this with great thanksgiving to God. These alone should truly be called intelligent people. A truly intelligent person has only one concern – to obey wholeheartedly and please the God of all." From the words of St. Anthony quoted, it is first of all evident that it is impossible for a person to be intelligent without God. Only those who please God, who do His will, can be called intelligent.

St. John of the Ladder speaks in the same way about this subject, for whom to be wise means to fulfill the will of God at all times, in every place and in every deed. That is, only the one who knows the will of God in any situation and tries to fulfill it is truly intelligent and wise. It is precisely this wisdom that the Holy Scriptures teach us when it says through the mouth of the Apostle Paul: "Do not be unreasonable, but know what is the will of God." The same is taught by the main Christian prayer, the words of which "Thy will be done" we say every day.

In fact, whose other will, besides the will of God, can a person fulfill? According to St. Seraphim of Sarov, a person can fulfill three wills: the first is the will of God, completely perfect and salvific; the second is the will of man himself, which, even when it is not pernicious, is still not salvific, and, finally, the third will is demonic, completely and always pernicious. From this it can be seen that there is only one saving will, and that is the will of God, and the other two wills do not save us, but lead us to destruction.

Thus, he who wants to be saved must certainly fulfill the will of God in his life. However, in order to fulfill it, you must first know it. Is it possible for a person to know the will of God, and if so, how to do it? The saints, for example, knew the will of God directly from God. St. Seraphim of Sarov could directly answer a person who asked about monasticism: "There is no way for you to enter a monastery." Or a person who asks about marriage: "This marriage is not pleasing to God," or someone else: "You will marry such and such a person, and this marriage will be happy." And he never made mistakes, because he said nothing of himself, but only what he learned from God. In the same way, His other great saints knew the will of God.