Trying Hard to Determine God's Will

[Hermit7]

Greetings,

When it comes to OCD, it's so difficult to discern what's God's will versus what's an obsessive thought.

Just now, I've been trying to figure out whether God just spoke to me recently or whether it's my OCD putting falsehoods into my mind.

I hesitate to ask for God's confirmation through a "sign" because I know it's wrong to do and I fear that I'll be condemned. Plus, that's one of my compulsions.

But at the same time, I really want an answer to something that I'm obsesssing about. I really want to know God's voice. What should I do?

-hermit

 

[pdudgeon]

Greetings,

When it comes to OCD, it's so difficult to discern what's God's will versus what's an obsessive thought.

Just now, I've been trying to figure out whether God just spoke to me recently or whether it's my OCD putting falsehoods into my mind.

I hesitate to ask for God's confirmation through a "sign" because I know it's wrong to do and I fear that I'll be condemned. Plus, that's one of my compulsions.

But at the same time, I really want an answer to something that I'm obsesssing about. I really want to know God's voice. What should I do?

-hermit

wanting an answer from God is ok. He wants us to ask questions about things we don't know abour or aren't sure about. But at the same time He wants us to know Him well enough that we feel safe in trusting Him to give us an answer.
and that's where the OCD comes in.

The OCD concentrates on the question itself and makes that the center of our attention. So we think instead about when we'll get an answer-if we get an answer-should we get an answer, will we recognize the answer,etc.

Doing that means that we're still holding on to the question, and our focus is really upon how important the question itself is. By doing that we shut off our focus on getting an answer or hearing from God, because all we can do is to think about ourselves asking the question. When that happens our thoughts become a closed loop of OCD for which there is no outlet--and no place for a thought of getting the answer to our question.

the answer instead is to think of God and focus all our attention on Him.
Think about His goodness, think about His mercy, think about how He provides for us every day. Think about how creative He is, Think about all He knows. And somewhere in there is the answer to your question. turning your focus on Him allows you to hear when He speaks to you.

 

[veryworried]

God will show you his will, just ask him. Pray and read the Bible- if there is a scripture that jumps out at you while reading, that's definitely answering.