Discerning the Will of God

This week I am contrasting three very different ways of discerning the will of God. In the first, the Holy Spirit twice blocks what was the logical next step from a human perspective. Twice, God threw up a "Do not enter" sign. The text does not reveal what form this took, but it does imply that the early Christians were moving. They were making decisions and marching ahead in faith, using their own judgment, not sitting in faith assuming they were to do nothing until instructed. This is an answer to what my wife calls the "billboard" prayer which goes "Lord, if this is NOT what you want me to do, show me a billboard!"

In the second example, Paul is given a vision. This was a very tangible confirmation that the decision to head back to the seaport (at the ancient city of Troy) was the way God intended. This, again, is not a sitting waiting faith, it is an active faith in motion. This is a confirmation prayer which, when I pray it, goes something like, "Lord, I am doing what I believe I heard you ask. I could use some reassurance." The lack of confirmation does not hold me back, but the occasional second nod from God makes the asking all worth while.

Then there is Gideon. I see this skinny little runt-of-the-litter standing in a winepress trying to thresh wheat by throwing a handful of it up a few inches and blowing on it. Phoo. A few kernels fall back at his feet while a tiny bit of chaff flies over the edge onto the ground. An angel of God addresses him as a "mighty warrior", and he looks around behind him dumbfounded trying to figure out who the angel is talking to. Confused, he looks back at the angel and replies, "Who me?"

Normal human encounters with angels involve being slammed to your knees in fear and humility. But not Gideon. After figuring out who the angel was talking to, Gideon tells the angel to wait while he runs off to prepare a gift of a sacred meal: an entire goat and a huge amount of unleavened bread made from more than a bushel of flour. To say that this guy was a dim bulb in the human chandelier is probably an understatement. If there was ever a time when an angel laughed and shook its head, it would have been here.

Gideon proceeds to dictate to this messenger from God exactly how the confirming signs are to be revealed. Have I ever done that? Have I ever tried to fleece-test God? Oops.

God will steer me as long as I am moving and paying attention and have the desire to follow. The proof comes from His loving understanding of my desire for confirmation, not from some wet fleece on a dry threshing floor. I can live with that. Each day. Every day. Abundantly! Lord, I thank you for that.