In three posts, I have sought to establish from the Bible that God does guide us, that we are taught to trust Him to guide us, and that we shouldn’t look for tangible signs of His leading. But does that mean God never gives us what I have called a “special whisper” or some token of His leading?

I do not say this. I say that we shouldn’t look for it, that we should trust God to lead us in the absence of any kind of sensational guidance. But I have had some experiences in my own life that could only have been the Lord. My experiences are not authoritative but are very real and meaningful to me. Let me share three of them and then get down to the brass tacks of how God communicates His will for our lives.

I was in my fourth year of ministry as an Assistant Pastor at Berean when God began to work on me about becoming a pastor. I did not realize that God was the one at work until the very end of that period of wrestling. Initially, I thought my desire to pastor was a pride issue, as if I presumed on this calling. Ultimately, God helped me see that He was calling me into this ministry. Within a few weeks of surrendering to this call, I met with my pastor to discuss it with him. Though God’s dealing in my heart was very real to me, I came to that meeting believing that God’s call would be confirmed or denied when I told my pastor. To my surprise (and horror), he said to me that he had been praying for this very thing for some time and that he was praying that God would make me the pastor at Berean. After I got past that shock, I met with him again about a week later, and he repeated this desire. A month later, on a fateful September evening, we received word that my pastor had tragically drowned. In the moment when I received word of his death, I had a very concrete thought that has never left me: “This is what I have been preparing you for.” I didn’t (and don’t) believe that experience was authoritative. I didn’t tell the church or anyone besides my wife. When the church formed a pulpit committee and began the search for a new pastor, I offered no hint of these phenomenal words of guidance. I waited for the church to ask me to be the candidate. When they asked, I said nothing about what our former pastor had said, and I said nothing about what I believed the Lord said to me. If these thoughts came from the Lord, I knew the church would vote me in as the next pastor. If they were merely voices in my head, the church would decline. When they took the vote, it was confirmed to me that this was, in fact, from the Lord.

Many years ago, I was preaching for a week-long conference. During the conference, as I was praying and preparing to preach, I had this thought: “You will be the next pastor of this church.” I was startled. Besides the fact that the church had a pastor and I had no reason to think he would be stepping down anytime soon, I had no interest in leaving my church for another. Once again, as has always been my custom, I told no one, and I did not believe the voice in my head. Instead, I set before the Lord two things that would confirm this impulse. First, if this was God’s will, my church would flourish and grow and have a surplus of funds (I set some specific goals). The second was more obvious: that the church in question would ask me to candidate without me ever saying a word. Here’s the not-so-crazy thing: that church never called me. Nor has our church met the ideal I proposed for growth. Without a doubt, the “voice” that spoke to me was something other than the Lord.

A few years after I became pastor, I had to confront an issue of sin in our church. The accused denied any wrongdoing, but others insisted that these people were engaged in a terrible sin. Because the evidence was difficult to trace, and in light of the vehement denials from one side and the hot accusations from the other, I found myself in a quandary. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew that something had to give, and soon. I resolved that I should fast and pray and ask the Lord to draw out the truth. After 8 hours of fervent prayer, the thought went through my head: “Make them swear an oath in the name of God.” That gave me pause. Again, I would not believe a voice in my head without something to confirm it. I prayed for a while longer. I recognized that if this was the step I should take, the Bible would teach me to do so. Immediately, I began a study of swearing oaths. In that study, I came to passages like Exodus 22:10-11 and Numbers 5, which confirmed that swearing an oath in the name of God was a legitimate way to sort through accusations when there was a lack of evidence. I then called in the accused and told them what I planned to do. Not long afterward, the accused made a full confession. It is legitimate to believe that God directed me to His Word.

What does all that mean? Sometimes, we think God is speaking to us when He isn’t. We should never rely on a voice in our head or a special whisper. Nor should we look for such things. In the third case above, I believe a few specific things set me up for such a false whisper. I was conditioned to look for such things at that time in my life. If I’m honest, I was wishing something like this would happen to me. So, it wasn’t hard for me to think that God was telling me this.

We must recognize how we condition ourselves to hear a voice from God and how easily we can be deceived into thinking we have heard it. Our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. And sometimes, our cravings drive us to believe we have found God’s will when we haven’t.

So, how does God communicate His will to us? J.I. Packer [1] points out that there are only three choices. Either God communicates His will through our rational minds, non-rational means, or some combination of the two (Packer, p. 212). 

Most Christians look for and rely on the “impulses” of the Holy Spirit. Which is to say, most Christians are looking for a non-rational form of communication. We see this in far too many cases. Some of the methods used are quite spooky and strange – everything from listening for an audible voice (or at least, audible in a spiritual sense), having a “God-told-me-to” moment, or some other more spurious and un-Biblical method of getting direct revelation from God – modern-day fleeces and homemade Urim and Thumim.

At least in part, the quest for non-rational guidance has come from pastors who have spoken this way. Nearly every Christian has heard a preacher relate his own experiences as if that experience is authoritative and everyone should expect the same thing. We have iterated and re-iterated the fact that the Bible makes no such promise. When God deals with a man extraordinarily, no one should act like this is ordinary.

But it does sound attractive to us to have God speaking directly to us – which is why Mormonism is a pretty popular religion, at least in Utah. Who doesn’t want to be receiving revelations from God that nobody else is receiving? But we can’t expect God to do what He has never promised to do for us. And God has not promised to speak personally to the individual. 

God reveals His will primarily through His Word communicating to our rational minds (Packer, p. 214). And God has given His people the ability to take into consideration everything Scripture says that directly applies to a particular decision, to weigh all that is commanded or forbidden regarding that decision, to recognize when this specific decision isn’t one God gives direct instruction about (who I should marry, what occupation I should pursue, whether or not to invest in stocks or bonds), and to factor in all the available choices to come to a decision. The Bible won’t always be able to decide your choices for you. 

God gives us reasonable minds. He renews those minds day by day. He brings to light the factors we need to consider – something we should ask Him to do in prayer. And He gives us the authority to make a decision.

The fundamental mode whereby our rational Creator guides His rational creatures is by rational understanding and application of His written words. (Packer, 214)

Scripture sets the bounds, to be sure, and we must not step outside of those bounds in any decision we make. That makes it easy for us to decide, for instance, whether I should marry an unbeliever or be a bartender or play the lottery. If you live according to God’s Word and are prepared to listen to God’s guidance, you will recognize God’s direction when it comes.

On the other hand – and this is the danger of seeking “impulses” from the Holy Spirit – quite often, we struggle to discern what comes from the Lord and what comes from somewhere south of there. If you wish to honor the Holy Spirit as your guide, the best way to do that is to honor and follow the Word of God.

The fundamental guidance which God gives to shape our lives – the instilling, that is, of the basic convictions, attitudes, ideals, and value judgments, in terms of which we are to live – is not a matter of inward promptings apart from the Word but of the pressure on our consciences of the portrayal of God’s character and will in the Word, which the Spirit enlightens us to understand and apply to ourselves. (Packer, p, 214)

In other words, develop a holy character by applying God’s Word to every part of your life. Then, God will establish the convictions, attitudes, and interests needed to make good decisions. This is what it means to get wisdom and why God has given us Proverbs.

Packer lists six things that keep us from knowing God’s will. I found this list especially helpful. He elaborates, and I summarize. In case you missed it, I highly recommend his book and the chapter on God’s guidance. We don’t know God’s will because of…

An unwillingness to think – don’t ignore the evidence in hopes that you will receive a Spirit prompting.

The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit. (Proverbs 14:8)

An unwillingness to think ahead – do your homework.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. (Proverbs 22:3 and 27:12)

An unwillingness to take advice – get other viewpoints and perspectives.

Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established. (Proverbs 15:22)

An unwillingness to suspect yourself – doubt your own judgment.

Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

“We can never distrust ourselves too much.” (Packer, 216)

An unwillingness to discount personal magnetism – beware of dominating influencers.

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (I Thessalonians 5:21)

An unwillingness to wait – Impatience leads to foolish decisions. 

When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When actions is needed, light will come.”

I opened this series by pointing out that Christians want a token of God’s leading because we fear that we will miss God’s will and not because we doubt that God will lead us. So, what if we make a mistake? Then what?

I’m not sure exactly how I can be out of God’s will if I am honoring God, seeking to do His will, and working hard at the task He has set before me. Wherever I am, God’s will has put me there. Not sinning, of course. But whatever job I have, it is God’s will for me to have that job and work hard at it.

But I would also point out that things go wrong, even when we are “in God’s will.” And that doesn’t mean we made the wrong choice or chose “second best.” In fact, God may have led to a specific choice for this very purpose: to bring this grief into your life. Can we be okay with things going wrong, even when we are “in God’s will?”

God has a plan for our lives, known only to Him, and a purpose He is working in us that He will never explain to us. Parts of His plan He will make known as He guides, and parts of His plan He will introduce into our lives when we didn’t expect it, don’t understand it, and can’t do anything about it. And we can be confident in the Lord and trust Him in these times.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

This is true even when we make a wrong decision. God has something good in it, even in our sin. That is not, of course, a motivation to pursue a sinful course of life. But the damage of a wrong decision is not irrevocable. I can explain what it means to restore a man who has fallen. I’ve seen it; I’ve experienced it. I can’t explain how divine sovereignty overrules my failures and incorporates them into God’s plan for my life. I can’t explain it, but I see it in Scripture, and I know it to be true.

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. (Joel 2:25)

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[1] I am indebted for the material in this section to J.I. Packer’s Knowing God.