Sometimes reverent Christians who sincerely
desire to please God will think that He is leading them to do something but
they aren’t sure. Rather than risk disobeying God or running out ahead of Him,
they try asking Him for a sign in order to confirm that they are properly
interpreting His leading. Other times, we feel like we get an idea on our own
about something that we want to do but we want to make sure we have God’s approval
before acting on it. Still other times we think we hear God say something to us
that perhaps seems too good to be true, and we want to make sure it was really
Him before we rely on His words as a firm promise. One way or another, we find
ourselves in a serious discernment dilemma and asking God for some sort of sign
seems like the only way we can get clear leading. When our core motivation is
to stay in alignment with God, putting out fleeces can be an appropriate course
to take. God understands how difficult it is for us to try and sort through the
static of demons, our own expectations, our emotions, and other people’s
opinions. He knows that His leading often seems very vague or nonexistent even
to those who are sincerely seeking Him. God is mysterious by choice: He could
write His will in the sky for each one of us if He wanted to, but He does not.
Instead, He slowly teaches us how to discern the many forms His leading takes,
and providing specific signs upon request is one of those forms.
Understand this point: you are not going to
get in trouble with God for asking for a sign if your heart attitude is
correct. On the contrary, God is quite pleased whenever any of His children are
sincerely seeking His will in a matter. Now just because you ask for a sign
does not mean that God will give you one, and it’s important not to read
personal rejection into this.
Here’s where we get into heart motivation.
Fleeces are only appropriate to use when we are UNCLEAR as to what God’s will
is in a situation.
Here's where we get into trouble. When we know exactly what He wants us to do, yet we keep
asking Him to reconfirm His will to us by performing miraculous signs, then
we’re just playing games. Now sometimes God gives us instructions that
completely overwhelm us. This was the case for Gideon. He knew what he was
supposed to do—he just didn’t want to do it, so he kept asking God to reconfirm
His instructions by performing miracles. Gideon asked for two separate miracles
in order to “prove” that he was hearing God correctly. Because God is gracious,
He granted Gideon’s requests. But it is unwise to follow Gideon’s example in
this area, for God does not enjoy playing games with us. Too often we use
fleeces or signs as a way to try and get out of doing what we know God wants us
to do. When our sign doesn’t happen, we use it as an excuse to say “I guess I
misunderstood God.” Such behavior is going to result in discipline. To use
fleeces properly, we need to first check our heart attitudes and make sure we
are treating God with respect.
Whenever we try to determine God’s will for
us by asking Him to do some specific event, it’s called using a fleece or
putting out a fleece. We get the term from Gideon, who used an actual fleece—a
piece of wool—to seek confirmation about God’s wills (Judges 6). Today most of
us aren’t using wool, but the term stuck as a catch-all phrase for asking God
to give us a specific sign.
Let’s remember that asking for a fleece is
different than asking God to open doors of opportunity. If I feel He’s leading
me to preach, then I might ask Him to open a door and I’ll have a general idea
of what to look for. Asking for God to open doors of opportunity is about
aligning with His timing: we know what He wants, we just don’t know when He
wants it, and so we wait for Him to clear the way. Putting out a fleece is
about trying to clarify what He wants because we are sincerely confused.
Sincere prayer is the first step in asking
God for a sign. Get alone with Him and take a moment to review your dilemma in
your mind to make sure you still need clarity.
The Holy Spirit might take that
opportunity to show you His will by another means.
This is where many Christians fall down: they
go through all the trouble of setting up a fleece, God cooperates, and then
they bail on Him. Realize that as soon as you start down the “give me a sign”
road, you are committing to obey God’s instructions. After you have received
clear instructions on what He wants you to do, don’t think you’re not going to
be in trouble with Him for willfully disobeying Him. Providing signs is not a
game to God.
Gideon’s test using a wool fleece was a very
poor set up because he did not leave any way for God to reject the test. In
both of his tests, he made “no” the most likely option while “yes” required the
breaking of physical laws in the universe. Gideon’s poorly designed tests
reflected his poor attitude: he already knew what God wanted and was looking
for an easy way out.
Here is where we get in trouble. You can use anything you want to be a fleece,
but asking God for theatrics is simply unwise. We must stay focused on our main
goal, which is to clarify God’s will. Asking God to perform miracles and
dramatic stunts is simply not necessary and we want to be guarded against our
flesh’s desire to be entertained.
When we ask God for a sign, our focus is on
sight, not faith. We want Him to communicate to us in a way that our senses can
clearly interpret rather than have to struggle with trying to discern a more
obscure form of His leading. In real life, Christians often use signs to get
extra confirmation about something they already know God wants them to do.
Rather than continue forward in faith, as Gideon should have done, they hold
back and ask for extra reassurance. Gideon knew that God wanted him to march
out in battle with the odds totally against him. Rather than go forward in
faith, believing that God would grant him the victory as He promised, Gideon
started playing fleece games.
All humans begin life relying entirely on
their physical senses, logic and emotions to guide them. Christians who are
going to thrive in the faith must learn how to do life completely backwards: we
must learn to rely on faith and God’s good Character as our guides instead of
our senses. We must learn to put more trust in what is unseen—God—than what is
seen. There is nothing easy, quick, or comfortable about learning to do this.
It takes a lot of time, struggle and perseverance. Along the way we’re going to
feel foolish, clumsy, dense, and frustrated. Just as children today would
rather watch television than do their homework, we Christians would rather
continue through life relying on our senses instead of learning new skills. If
God would only keep the signs coming, then we would never have to struggle over
what to do. This is why asking God to communicate to us through signs is highly
addictive. Once we experience Him speaking to us through this method, we’re
naturally going to try and use it as much as possible. This becomes problematic
for God; because He wants us to grow strong in faith, not stay dependent on the
crutch of sight. This is why God will quickly discourage us from using signs
once we get started with them. He’ll use them for an occasional clarification
to help us over some hump in the road, but His main focus will be building our
faith up enough to wean us entirely off of the need for visual confirmations.
God is not against signs. In fact, there are
many occasions in the Bible when He gives miraculous signs to people who aren’t
even asking for them, just to give them an extra anchor to hold on to. When
properly timed in a Christian’s life, signs can help speed up the development
of faith. Overdo the signs, and the faith will wither like an over watered
houseplant. It’s a tricky balance which only God knows how to properly
maintain. This is why we must be willing to part with signs when God starts
stonewalling us.
Here is where we get in trouble: Because signs are so tempting to overuse,
it’s easy to start using them to try and get extra confirmation about things we
already know are true. This is when God often lets Satan into the mix in order
to discourage us from putting out more fleeces. We’ll start getting a lot of
silence from God and then we’ll start to get answers that we know are wrong.
“Do You love me?” we’ll ask and then our test results will indicate “no.”
Obviously this isn’t God talking; it is demons that have gotten permission to
toy with us. As soon as this sort of thing happens, it means it’s time to take
a break because God is done speaking through signs for a while. This is where
Satan will rush in to try and make you feel embarrassed for trying to ask God
for signs in the first place. He’ll also try to tell you God is annoyed with
you. We must remember that any conviction which makes us feel rejected,
hopeless and distant from God is from a lie from demons. When God has problem
with us, He is clear about what it is, He shows us how to get back in alignment
with His will, and encourages us to do the right thing. He doesn’t beat us down
and mock us for our past mistakes.
God loves all of His children dearly and He
enjoys every stage of our spiritual development. When He takes signs away from
us, we mustn’t read personal rejection into it. Instead, we need to realize
He’s ready to move us on to bigger and better things. God wants the absolute
best for us, and living by faith will lead us to far more peace, confidence and
joy than living by sight ever could. It’s important that we don’t let Satan
sell us a picture of God being impatient with us and quick to throw up His
hands in aggravation whenever we stumble. The many transitions we go through as
we mature are difficult to get through, and God understands this. He has great
compassion for our struggles and He never gets annoyed with us for being human.
When we get frustrated and upset after He blocks us from something we really
want—like a clear sign about what to do—He is going to respond like the good
father who pulls his child onto his lap and reassures him that everything is
going to be alright. God knows how disappointing it is when He refuses to give
us something we really feel like we need. But whenever God blocks us, we must
realize it is because He has something better in mind. Never interpret God’s
rejection of your fleece test as Him rejecting you personally. God loves you
and wants you to grow into a strong, confident, tower of faith. He knows how to
get you there. You need to trust Him.
At best, signs are only going to be in our
lives for short seasons of time while we learn how to live by faith. The
stronger our faith becomes, the less signs will play a role in our lives. God
is not going to let us have a steady diet of signs, and those who think He is
doing that with them have probably fallen into a dangerous pattern of
self-deception. By using poor tests that are biased in our favor, we can
pretend God is giving us signs when in reality He is not. We must remember that
God is always focused on maturing us. The more willing we are to listen to Him,
the more firmly He’s going to push us forward and the less time He’ll let us
have relying on any physical props. While signs can be a good thing and totally
appropriate at certain points in our walk, we must view them as only temporary
helps which we want to mature past as quickly as possible. As always, when we
sincerely desire to please God in our hearts, we cannot fail to do so,
regardless of how many signs He does or does not give us.
Blessings
J.P. Olson
No comments:
Post a Comment