My teenaged son returned from summer camp this past week.  I never know what to expect when that happens.  Last year it was an appeal to be allowed to pursue attending college (in a couple years) at Cedarville.  His camp counselor was a Cedarville attendee and he wanted to emulate him (as much esteem as I hold for Cedarville, it is far too expensive for me and my son, yet, a year later he is still dropping hints that he wants to attend there).

This year he sat on the couch reading a book that the camp speaker had given out.  I could not pry it from his hands to see what the content was about.  A day later he looked up and said, “Dad, do you believe you can know the will of God?”  That was followed by several hours of questions, including, “Do you believe that God does miracles today?” and “Do you believe that God gives you signs?”  I just love summer camp (for those who do not know me, I am not joking or being sarcastic in the least--I just love Christian summer camp because little else floats my boat than to have my own child ask me penetrating theological questions).

Even my wife was surprised at my response that I do not look for, or expect, supernatural signs from God to make decisions or confirm decisions already made.  She asked, “But we just got those tax refunds in exactly the amount we spent on his summer camp--surely that was a sign that we were supposed to have sent him to Christian summer camp--otherwise, what would you call it?”  I replied, “I would call it a blessing.”

Looking for signs is an indication of disbelief.  Gideon lacked faith to believe the prophetic word of God, so he invented a sign by which he demanded that God affirm that He was not lying when He prophesied Gideon would be victorious.  Similarly, when the scribes and Pharisees could not believe that Jesus was from God, they demanded Jesus prove Himself by giving them a supernatural sign.  Jesus declined and told them that those who demand a sign so as to believe God are perverse and evil because they lack faith.

God has given us the faculties to make godly decisions, the Holy Spirit within guides our thinking toward the scriptural principles of wisdom, and He continuously makes our hearts and minds to desire to do the work of holiness (just as He hardens the hearts of those who hate Him).  Those three things, logical minds, scriptural wisdom, and a desire to be holy in His service, are sufficient to make “good” decisions. 

Signs in the Scriptures were not often used by God to affirm the decision making process, but mostly to give evidence that His messenger spoke for Him: Jesus used signs to make it evident that He was the Messiah (but declined to give signs when it was demanded that he do so), Moses used signs to demonstrate he was a prophet to Pharaoh, Paul used signs to show he was an apostle.  Signs, supernatural miracles, were used to give evidence that the speaker was true, but not to indicate what choices to make in the decision making process, and never “on demand” by the unfaithful.

For that reason I view the unexpected tax refunds as blessings, gifts, from the Lord and not signs.  In fact, the sign would have been too late anyway.  We had already made the decision to send our son to camp without knowing about the tax refund money.  We made the decision based on what we thought would be best for our son and best for God’s kingdom.  The decision was already made.  Could the refunds be seen as confirmation that the right decision had been made?  No.  My son’s response to the spiritual instruction he received was already sufficient confirmation that it was a wise decision.  Would lack of a refund have been a counter-sign?  No, for it never was expected and would never have been missed.  The refund was a blessing.  It was unexpected and had played no part in our decision making or in our son’s response to camp.

But, without signs, how will we know how to make the right decision?  We don’t, not always.  Just as Paul continually wanted to get to Rome (he eventually did, but not in the way he had wanted), or just as Paul desired to go to Bithynia and the Holy Spirit prevented him, our decisions are subject to “the will of the Lord” which means He institutes unexpected redirection (James 4:13-17).  Was not the entire point of Job’s story to demonstrate that God does everything for His own hidden purposes, He redirects or undoes our best plans, and He owes us no explanation?  Does not Ecclesiastes tell us that God hides from man the outcomes of his decisions (Ecclesiastes 6:12, 10:14) and that neither days of adversity nor wealth can reveal God’s true purposes or even what the next day will bring to a man (Ecclesiastes 7:14)?  Does this not all teach us to NOT rely on circumstances as “signs”?

Paul did not rely on signs, but rather looked for opportunities to evangelize and teach.  He called these opportunities open doors (Colossians 4:3 1 Corinthians 16:9), and the lack of them, closed doors.  And all such times are of the Lord.  Paul did not see circumstances as signs of God’s favor on his decision making, but that all circumstances were good for one thing, “is this a chance to preach and teach?” 

No, I do not believe in looking for signs to make my decisions.  I try to ask with sincerity, “Is this the right thing to do for the kingdom, for my family, and as a steward of what God has entrusted to me?”  There are no signs, only opportunities, so that “man will not discover anything that will be after him.”  The decisions are ours, but only as the Lord wills, because the outcomes are entirely up to Him for His own good purposes and reasons which He need not share with anyone.