If You Are Praying for a Sign, This Is It

The average person makes 35,000 daily decisions, say researchers at Cornell University. They found also that more than 220 of those decisions deal with food alone.

Only about 70 of our daily choices, though, are wholly conscious — and choices that require a lot of thought can feel paralyzing. Many Christians, it seems, want to make their decision-making process a near-mystical experience, with God directing every single step through miraculous, or near-miraculous, signs designed especially for them.

“You should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

Can God do that? Absolutely. Will He? Probably not.

Pastor Tim Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, has a great illustration of God’s will and our decisions: Imagine a six-year-old asking his parents whether or not he can go outside to play. His parents might tell him, “Yes. But we’re having dinner at 7 o’clock, so be inside by then.”

Now imagine the average 20-year-old calling his parents from college and asking the same question. Mom and Dad would say, “What’s wrong with you? You can decide that!” In other words, his parents have wisely taught him to make his own decisions based on what he understands about himself and his situation. God works roughly the same way with us.

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Of course, God will guide us when we ask Him to — and more graciously than those parents. “If any of you lacks wisdom,” James 1:5 says, “you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” But what is our part in all of this?

In order to even begin to understand God’s will, we must realize there are two types: His revealed will, found in the Bible, and His sovereign will, seen in events that come to pass, whether or not we understand them, and over which we have no control.

His revealed will is pretty simple. If you’re thinking about engaging in tax evasion or blasphemy, for example, then the biblical answer is an obvious “no.” Or if you’re wondering whether to leave your spouse because you believe God wants you to be happier with someone you find more attractive emotionally or physically, then, once again, the answer is “no. Don’t.” It’s that easy. The Bible is crystal-clear about such decisions.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

But what if you’re faced with other, less biblically obvious but equally life-changing choices? For example, whom should you marry? Where should you live, and in what house? Is this job best for you? How many children should you have and how should you raise them? How do you know what to do?

Well, realize that you won’t necessarily know exactly what to do. But you don’t need to, either. It’s a process, and God patiently explains, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).

His will is not a tightrope to be tiptoed across fretfully. He sees the whole picture better than we do, and He will guide us as He reveals Himself through His Word. Psalms 119:105 illustrates: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

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If you are walking according to His ways, then St. Francis of Assisi’s advice on decision-making is an excellent — and beautifully liberating — rule of thumb: “Honor God and do what you please.” And within this entire process, always consider the following as well:

1.) Ask godly people for advice. “Without counsel plans fail,” Proverbs 15:22 says, “but with many advisers they succeed.” Echoing that, Proverbs 12:15 instructs: “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

2.) Stop worrying. Know that He loves you and is in ultimate control — but know that worry counters faith in Him.

3.) Consider what you want as well. Your own desires and God-given design are not to be ignored if you are honoring Him in your ways. Pastor John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis has wisely said of thoroughly considered yet still gray-area decisions, “We are to let our Spirit-shaped desires be our guide. We are to discern by desire.”

4.) Pray. Pray for open and closed doors as you try to go through them. God will make some choices obvious for you as you proceed (and often in non-miraculous but no less helpful ways). Some doors you might stumble through or be denied. Trust Him in each of them.

As you embark on adventures in decision-making process (and it can be adventurous!), remember always that God wants your best. As Psalms 25:27 says, “Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, ‘Great is the Lord, who delights in the welfare of his servant!'”