If there is one topic which comes up over and over in the Christian life, it is decision making and the will of God.

J.I. Packer in his very insightful and useful book: God’s Plans for You” writes: “Evangelicals differ from most Roman Catholics and liberals in that they are constantly uptight about guidance. No other concern commands more interest or arouses more anxiety among them nowadays than discovering the will of God.

It was of evangelicals that Joseph Bayly wrote in 1968: “If there is a serious concern among Christian students today, it is for guidance. Holiness may have been the passion of another generation’s Christian young men and women. Or soul-winning. Or evangelizing the world.… But not today. Today the theme is getting to know the will of God.”

Continuing Packer says: “My own experience confirms this. The more earnest and sensitive a believer is, the more likely he or she is to be hung up about guidance. And if I am any judge, the evangelical anxiety level on the subject continues to rise.

Why is this? The source of anxiety is that a desire for guidance is linked with uncertainty about how to get it and fear of the consequences of not getting it.”

Then Packer states what seems to me to be a very common understanding about all of this: “God’s plan for your life is like an itinerary drawn up for you by a travel agent. As long as you are in the right place at the right time to board each plane or train or bus or boat, all is well. But miss one of these preplanned connections, and the itinerary is ruined. A revised plan can only ever be second-best compared with the original.” ^{Packer, J. I. 2001. God’s Plans for You. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.}

Maybe you can identify with all this someway yourself.

How Do I Know When God is Speaking To Me? When He is leading?

I know I’ve wrestled with these questions. I’ve been there.

And it can be paralyzing.

So it is I can’t count the times I’ve heard people say –

God told me I am going to marry ——- God told me to go into this kind of career; God told me a situation is going to come out a certain way; God told me this or that is OK spiritually even though all evidence is to the contrary; God to told me to go to this church; God told me to leave my job; God told me to take a different route to work today. You get the picture.

All of which carries the assumption with it that truly spiritual people are hearing God speak to them all the time about all sorts of things. This, with the implication that if such is not YOUR experience, you are somehow spiritually deficient.

We forget the Word reminds us: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29)

Often, we are trying to peer into the “secret things”, while virtually ignoring what He HAS revealed.

It reminds me of the Disciple’s question to Jesus in Acts 6 – after His resurrection. They asked: “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

His response was surprising: “He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

As a side note, it is amazing how many today are still steeped in the Disciple’s question, consumed with Last Days madness around times and season, rather than the subject of Jesus’ response. A topic for another day.

The question is, is this really what the Bible teaches about a life of being led by The Spirit?

I don’t think so.

As Believers and those wanting to please our God, we naturally seek His guidance in making good decisions. Additionally, no one likes the experience of deciding to do something only to have it turn into a cause for great regret.

We like certainty. And generally, we want to do what is pleasing to our God.

Fortunately, Scripture isn’t negligent in giving us good principles for making sound decisions.

Principles like:

• We are to be occupied with what God HAS revealed, not with what He hasn’t. Deut. 29:29.

• That we look to His Word rather than feelings, signs, impressions or omens.

• That coincidence is not necessarily leading.

• Using the good old common sense God had given us to exercise.

I’m of the opinion that the single most neglected spiritual gift among Christians just might be grey matter.

And then there is the wisdom of others with sound experience to bring to the table.

But there is one “supposed” method which many appeal to as it is found in Judges 6, and the account of Giden and his “fleece.”

And here is a vital lesson for us to learn in life as well as in Bible study: Just because an action or event is recorded in the Bible – doesn’t mean it is meant to be adopted or replicated by us.

The truth is, as you read Gideon’s account carefully, God never commends Gideon for using the “fleece” method.

In fact, in the end, the fleece episode is a sign of Gideon’s own unbelief and cowardice, and God’s patience with him. It is NOT an endorsement. Not a modeled methodology.

By the time we get to Gideon putting out his fleece, he had already been given no less than 7 “signs” already.

In 6:11-13 he had an angelic visitation.

In 14-17 – He was given a divine commission.

In 18 – He requested the angel to remain. The angel did.

In 21 – Gideon’s offering was miraculously consumed.

In 22 & 23 He was given divine reassurance.

In 25-30 He is given a test commission which goes well.

And in 31 & 32 he gets surprising support from his father, and a hands-off policy adopted by the naysayers.

So by the time we get to the fleece episode, what we have is a picture of how patient and condescending God was to Gideon’s cowardice and continuing unbelief – NOT, a method for determining God’s will.

Gideon already knew God’s will. That was clearly articulated to him in vs. 14.

He, was continually looking for a way out. That’s his motive in putting out his – fleece.

God’s will, in the things we NEED to know, is already stored up for us in His Word.

In fact, God gives us remarkable freedom in making choices.

So let me suggest a simple (and I believe more Biblical) process that might free you from some anxiety, and keep you from a semi-superstitious method like putting out a fleece.

Ask:

1. Will my choice prevent or hinder me from doing anything God expressly commands me to do in His Word?

2. Will my choice require me to do anything God expressly forbids me from doing in His Word?

3. Have I weighed to pros and cons, and am thus using my best wisdom and the wisdom of others I respect in the ways of the Lord and the knowledge of His Word?

4. Then make the choice that seems most in keeping with sound wisdom, and commit it to the Lord, being willing to have Him change course providentially.

Yes, it is true – that being born again, indwelt by His Spirit and growing in the Word, we do develop a sort of spiritual intuition over time. Even though we may not be able to articulate a precise understanding, something “feels” a bit off, etc. That is often a good indicator that something needs to be looked at more carefully, or put on hold until clarity comes. But in the main – follow the steps above. Then…

Trust Him to be faithful in everything you place in His hands.

Don’t be a Gideon. You’ll only get fleeced.