How To Discern God’s Will For Where To Live

Hello beloved child of God, I hope you’re fine by God’s grace.

Have you ever felt confused when you had to discern God’s Will for your life? I guess we all have experienced it from time to time in different areas of our lives.

For sure The Bible contains specific instructions and commandments from God which let us know God’s Will in some areas of our lives, for example commandments on saying the truth, forgiving one another, fleeing from sexual immorality, but there are other things which aren’t mentioned specifically in The Bible, for example which career to choose, which Christian to marry, how many children to have, which church to go to, which town to live in, or which pair of shoes you should wear today 🙂

I agree with you on the fact The Bible doesn’t give detailed instructions on every single detail of your life, especially for subjects which seem general and which are apparently not sinful.

There’s apparently nothing sinful in accepting a new job, travelling to live another country, or choosing a career in a field which is legit and safe, nevertheless, the choices we make have consequences, and as Christians, we want to be sure that while making those choices, they’ll have positive consequences on ourselves and on our relationship with God.

Today, I want us to focus specifically on discerning God’s will for where to live. This is very important especially for those who can “choose” which area to live in.

In order to discuss about this, I’ll share with you about Lot, Abraham’s nephew.

Genesis 13:5‭-‬13 NLT

Lot, who was traveling with Abram, had also become very wealthy with flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and many tents. But the land could not support both Abram and Lot with all their flocks and herds living so close together. So disputes broke out between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot. (At that time Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land.) Finally Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not allow this conflict to come between us or our herdsmen. After all, we are close relatives! The whole countryside is open to you. Take your choice of any section of the land you want, and we will separate. If you want the land to the left, then I’ll take the land on the right. If you prefer the land on the right, then I’ll go to the left.” Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord or the beautiful land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan Valley to the east of them. He went there with his flocks and servants and parted company with his uncle Abram. So Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom and settled among the cities of the plain. But the people of this area were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the Lord .

Lot was asked to choose where he would live, and with his physical eyes he chose what he knew would be most prosperous for him, but he didn’t think of the fact that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were renowned for their wickedness and sinful lifestyle.

This was a very important decision in Lot’s life because where you choose to live affects not just your company but also the company of your spouse and your kids. It will affect somehow what they think and what they believe, it will somehow give them a certain culture.

Sodom and Gomorrah was renowned for homosexuality and sexual immorality in general. Lot was living near or at the entrance of the city Sodom and Gomorrah, kind of at the boundary. (At times we think that we can play with the boundaries and never get to fall off the cliff).

When God wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He decided to save Lot an his family because of Abraham. Though normally, because Lot lived there, he was quite well positioned to be destroyed at the same time as Sodom and Gomorrah. (Watch out when you voluntarily live with enemies of God).

You can read the whole story in Genesis 19 on how God sent angels to Lot’s house and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah requested for Lot to bring the angels to them so that they could rape them and Lot refused but suggested to send his daughters for them to be raped. You can read the whole story to the point where the city is destroyed but Lot’s wife doesn’t survive because she looked back.

The part I really want you to look at more deeply is what happened to Lot after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genesis 19:30‭-‬38 NLT

Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters. One day the older daughter said to her sister, “There are no men left anywhere in this entire area, so we can’t get married like everyone else. And our father will soon be too old to have children. Come, let’s get him drunk with wine, and then we will have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.” So that night they got him drunk with wine, and the older daughter went in and had intercourse with her father. He was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. The next morning the older daughter said to her younger sister, “I had sex with our father last night. Let’s get him drunk with wine again tonight, and you go in and have sex with him. That way we will preserve our family line through our father.” So that night they got him drunk with wine again, and the younger daughter went in and had intercourse with him. As before, he was unaware of her lying down or getting up again. As a result, both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their own father. When the older daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Moab. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Moabites. When the younger daughter gave birth to a son, she named him Ben-ammi. He became the ancestor of the nation now known as the Ammonites.

Lot’s daughters made him drunk and raped him in order to have children with him whilst they could simply have travelled a little further to places where they would meet men and find husbands.

Where do you think those ladies learned sexual perversion? How did they get to see rape as “normal” or “acceptable” in order to get what they wanted?

For sure the human heart is evil, nevertheless we shouldn’t neglect the influence that living by Sodom and Gomorrah had on them.

In looking for God’s will for where to live, you should think about the mindsets of the people there. You should think of whether you’ll be able to find like-minded Christians there with whom to live in a community.

If you know that changing job and moving to a new town where sexual immorality is normal, and where you won’t even be able to find one righteous person who is walking in The Lord, and that you won’t even have the right to evangelise without being thrown into prison, then you should think about it.

So many people are having problems today because they chose to live in areas where they can’t find a Bible-centered church, they can’t find a Christian community, they can’t find even a colleague, a friend or a neighbor who’s walking in The Lord’s ways, and they’re sending their children to schools which are clearly against God, which have educational programs which encourage premarital sex and sexual immorality in general, schools in which they are trained to choose homosexuality as a lifestyle.

They don’t measure the long-term consequences of this because iron sharpens iron. The more their children will spend time with people who have a type of mindset, the more they’ll look like them. Culture influences a lot.

In the beginning it’s easy to say “I’m gonna stay strong in my faith in God” but when we are constantly surrounded by people who are choosing evil everyday, it can corrupt what we mean by staying “strong” in our faith in God, it can twist our minds, it can make us seek to be morally and politically acceptable to people instead of seeking to please God. It can make us call good evil and evil good.

Obviously, some people don’t get to choose where they live, they’re in countries where they are persecuted for being Christians, but notice that they act like the early church, they don’t remain isolated, they surround themselves with other Christians, which is very important.

Lot however, lived in a place where even though Abraham asked God to spare the place if he found at least 10 righteous men there, those 10 couldn’t even be found. Which means that Lot was not only living near evil/in the midst of evil, but he had no community of like-minded people who feared The Lord.

When trying to discern God’s Will for where to live, don’t forget that The Bible is clear about your mission to spread The Gospel and make disciples, to walk in God’s ways daily, to grow in God’s Word and to educate your children according to God’s Word.

If a specific geographical location is a barrier to all these, then it’s clear that you shouldn’t live there.

If through careful analysis you realize that living there will imply that

• Your children will have no Christians friends to be surrounded with
• You and your spouse will live in constant temptation because no body around you cares about honouring God and protecting their marriage and your marriage
• You will not have a Christian community (church) in which to grow
• You won’t even be able to build a Christian community in which to grow because the law of the area itself is against you
• The fact that sin is normalized there may skew your view of sin and that of your children
• If your children have to choose their spouses from there, then they’ll marry unbelievers for sure

Then you can be sure that this is not the place to live in.

Even if your faith remains strong and you don’t compromise, think about your children. You may say that you’ll homeschool them (which is great) but somehow there’ll still be the influence of the culture when you get out on the streets.

I’m not trying to say that there’s some place here on the earth which is perfect to live in for every Christian, but when you have the opportunity to choose, choose an environment which will be suitable for you and your family to grow in their faith and to also bring others to Christ.

When Lot chose to live near Sodom and Gomorrah, he didn’t measure the impact it would have on his family, but it ended up destroying his family on the long run.

God’s Will is for you to walk in His ways, which means that anything which prevents you from walking in His ways is against His Will for you.

Also, I know that there are exceptions, there are people who go as missionaries to areas which weren’t governed by Biblical culture, but those people surrounded themselves with other Christians to make an impact. Here you have to be firm, stay surrounded and to go with the guidance of The Holy Spirit, but I think the key for such people is that they stayed surrounded with other Christians and they kept evangelising.

Perhaps you’re living somewhere where you can clearly see the negative impact it’s having on your relationship with God, your marriage and your children. You may even be in a financial situation where you think you can’t move to anywhere else. My advice to you is to start searching for a way to stay connected to other Christians (there are so many ways with online Bible study groups, and online churches) and also to look locally for other Christians to stay connected and to pray for God to create opportunities either for you to grow in your faith there and to evangelise or for you to leave and go elsewhere where you and your family can grow in your faith.

Prayer

Father Lord God Almighty, King of Glory I know that I have the responsibility not only to grow in my relationship with You, but also to make disciples, and to draw my family nearer to You. Lord help me to choose well when I choose where to live, and to surround myself, my spouse and my kids with like-minded Christians with whom we will grow in our faith, in Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.

It’s Now Your Turn

Have you seen the culture of where you live influence you or your family? Please share in the comments section.

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God bless you

Victoria Eyog