Should We Watch for Signs from God?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:04.620 | We have talked in the past about fortune tellers, palm readers, necromancers, witches, and mediums.
00:00:10.520 | It's pretty clear that these are all forbidden by God.
00:00:13.900 | We covered that back in APJ 1052.
00:00:17.240 | But here's a different angle on the question from Jeff in Nashville, Tennessee.
00:00:20.160 | "Dear Pastor John, I love the teaching of Providence and eagerly look forward to getting
00:00:24.640 | my copy of your new book.
00:00:26.480 | As a pastor, I battle a growing New Age practice among some Christians in the use of omens."
00:00:33.320 | I think that's the best way to label it.
00:00:35.880 | In APJ 1580, you said, "As I look at the 10,000 tiny bubbles popping at the top of
00:00:42.720 | the foam of my diet, Dr. Pepper, I believe that every one of those bubbles is popping
00:00:47.600 | in accord perfectly with God's bubble popping plan."
00:00:53.120 | I totally agree with you.
00:00:54.640 | However, it concerns me that some will use this to justify their belief that when they
00:00:58.680 | see a certain number over and over in one day, this is a prophetic message from God.
00:01:05.280 | Or they will claim to see answers in cloud formations.
00:01:08.400 | I know this all sounds silly, but these things are very real for some Christians who are
00:01:12.200 | always on the lookout for a sign from God.
00:01:15.720 | Increasing people's trust in God's all-pervasive providence in all things is likely to amplify
00:01:21.060 | this tendency.
00:01:23.240 | So how do we wisely lead people into God's all-encompassing providence, especially those
00:01:28.720 | who will be tempted more than ever to draw out signs from all of life's circumstances?
00:01:36.000 | I think the question that every lover of the all-pervasive providence of God should ask
00:01:42.680 | is this, "How shall I live my life so as to be found in the slipstream of God's providence
00:01:51.960 | with the fullest knowledge of God, the greatest love of God, and bearing most fruit for the
00:01:58.280 | eternal good of other people for the glory of God?"
00:02:02.160 | I think that's the question.
00:02:04.360 | You remember what a slipstream is.
00:02:05.960 | It's when you get behind a boat or a car or a bike or an airplane and you are drawn forward
00:02:13.880 | into the direction of the one that you're following by the very force of the slipstream
00:02:21.760 | that, as it were, reaches back and grabs you and pulls you along.
00:02:27.040 | So what we're asking is, "How shall I find myself drawn along in the slipstream of God's
00:02:35.760 | all-governing providence in such a way that we know him most fully, we love him most deeply,
00:02:44.520 | we bear the most fruit for the eternal good of other people, and all for the glory of
00:02:49.600 | God?"
00:02:50.600 | And I see two possible answers to that question.
00:02:55.360 | First, the wrong one, the unbiblical one.
00:02:59.440 | We can live by trying to read the providence of God as if the hundreds of events that befall
00:03:08.960 | us each day had messages in them which we're supposed to decipher so that as providence
00:03:16.840 | befalls us, it becomes a series of codes showing us how to think and how to feel and which
00:03:23.280 | way to go.
00:03:24.280 | So that's one answer to how to get into the slipstream of providence.
00:03:29.840 | Here's the second one.
00:03:30.840 | I think this is the biblical answer.
00:03:33.520 | We can live in the slipstream of God's merciful, all-governing providence by orienting our
00:03:41.680 | entire life toward understanding the revealed will of God in his Word, not a secret, hidden
00:03:51.840 | will in the coating of clouds and coincidences, and by availing ourselves of all the biblically
00:04:01.760 | appointed means of grace like corporate worship and pastoral teaching and brotherly correction,
00:04:08.080 | and by being transformed in the spirit of our minds, like Ephesians says, so as to discern
00:04:16.000 | moment by moment the way of truth and love.
00:04:19.600 | In other words, the Bible teaches the doctrine of God's providence not in order to lead us
00:04:28.240 | away from the revealed will of God in his Word, but in order to give us confidence that
00:04:38.060 | if we follow the revealed will of God in his Word, providence will work everything together
00:04:44.160 | for our eternal good.
00:04:45.800 | That's why it teaches it.
00:04:46.960 | Let me say it again.
00:04:48.840 | Providence is taught in the Bible, not as an alternative way of assurance and guidance
00:04:56.880 | different from the revealed Word of God, but as the ground of our assurance that if we
00:05:04.680 | are guided by God's Word, we will be found in the slipstream of God's sovereign blessing
00:05:11.040 | forever.
00:05:12.040 | I say this not only because there are such strong warnings in Scripture against fortune-tellers
00:05:20.320 | and interpreters of omens, Deuteronomy 18.10, but even more because the way of life that
00:05:28.920 | Jesus and the apostles teach us is rooted in the Word of God.
00:05:35.320 | "Sanctify them in the truth.
00:05:37.200 | Your Word is truth," John 17.17.
00:05:41.520 | And the transformation of our minds, Romans 12.2, and the spirit of our minds in righteousness
00:05:47.420 | and holiness, Ephesians 4.23.
00:05:50.840 | Jesus and the apostles don't encourage us to look for personal coded messages in providence
00:06:01.000 | for how to live our lives.
00:06:03.520 | Now let me mention four reasons why we should not use providence as a coded language for
00:06:12.920 | the living of our lives.
00:06:14.920 | Number one, we don't have the knowledge or the wisdom required for this.
00:06:20.840 | Just when you think that three circumstances or three natural signs have lined up to point
00:06:28.400 | to a certain direction of behavior and have a certain meaning, God sees a thousand factors
00:06:36.680 | that you don't see that put a completely different meaning on those three that you do see.
00:06:43.880 | In other words, presuming to interpret providence for the guidance of your life is presumptuous.
00:06:51.320 | You don't have enough knowledge or wisdom.
00:06:54.320 | Number two, providence is not given as the ground of our faith in Christ.
00:07:01.680 | Seeking to bolster confidence in the truth of Christ, the truth of Christianity, with
00:07:08.720 | circumstantial providential confirmations is often a sign that the eyes of the heart
00:07:16.880 | are becoming dim, like getting spiritual cataracts.
00:07:22.120 | The battle for assurance, the battle to see the self-authenticating glory of Christ in
00:07:28.760 | the gospel is a battle for the eyes of the heart to see his glory in the Word, not a
00:07:35.280 | battle to see coded confirmations in the circumstances of the world.
00:07:40.880 | Everybody struggles at times with doubt and uncertainty, and God has given us means of
00:07:50.000 | grace—prayer, the Word of God, the witness of the Spirit, the fellowship of the saints.
00:07:56.840 | These are the weapons we use to bring renewed illumination to the eyes of our heart.
00:08:04.080 | Ephesians 1:17, "Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God."
00:08:10.080 | Providence buttresses our Word-awakened faith by showing that nothing can stop the promises
00:08:18.160 | of God from being fulfilled.
00:08:21.180 | Number three, very often the desire to find coded meaning in natural phenomena or circumstantial
00:08:30.640 | coincidences is a desire that flows from the pride of possessing private knowledge that
00:08:41.000 | others don't have.
00:08:42.920 | We've all tasted this.
00:08:44.780 | This kind of pride is the fuel that keeps gossip going.
00:08:50.560 | For example, I have some inside knowledge that others don't have, and, oh, it feels
00:08:55.880 | so good to be in the know with just a few key people.
00:09:00.760 | So we should ask ourselves, "Am I dissatisfied with the Word of God, the Bible, which everybody
00:09:08.400 | has access to because I don't want to be lost in the crowd of just any old ordinary Bible
00:09:14.440 | reader?
00:09:16.060 | I want to have my own special private source of revelation so that I can feel set apart
00:09:22.680 | and special."
00:09:25.240 | Number four, finally, I think one of the main reasons that the Bible is so adamant in rejecting
00:09:33.840 | omens and sorcery and fortune-telling and mediums and divination—in Deuteronomy 18,
00:09:40.560 | for example—is that all of these ways of trying to read Providence fail to do precisely
00:09:50.360 | what the prophets and apostles made central, namely, the prophets and apostles revealed
00:09:57.760 | God and his ways by relating everything to the character of God, the nature of God, the
00:10:05.720 | personhood of God, the wisdom of God, the justice of God, the love of God.
00:10:11.920 | And they made plain that such revelation is only possible because God himself gives it
00:10:18.760 | by his Spirit through his Word and that any other claim to know God and his ways is really
00:10:26.720 | an attempt to replace God's ways and ultimately to replace God.
00:10:34.320 | So I would plead with all the lovers of the all-pervasive, all-embracing, all-governing
00:10:42.760 | providence of God, don't replace the infinitely precious Word of God with your puny, fallible
00:10:53.800 | capacities to decode the infinitely complex providence of God.
00:10:59.440 | While this age lasts, the paths of providence will be a mystery, but his Word will be a
00:11:08.080 | lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
00:11:12.840 | Wow, that is such a good, strong warning here, Pastor John.
00:11:16.000 | Thank you.
00:11:17.000 | My takeaway line from this episode—I love this one—we live in the slipstream of God's
00:11:22.000 | all-governing providence by orienting our entire lives toward understanding the revealed
00:11:27.320 | will of God and his Word, not a secret, hidden will in the coding of clouds and in coincidences.
00:11:35.040 | Such a great reminder.
00:11:36.040 | Pastor Jeff, thank you for the great question.
00:11:38.520 | Many of our best questions come in from pastors, so pastors, send us your toughest questions
00:11:43.540 | at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:11:49.200 | Speaking of God's all-governing providence over all things, next time we are going to
00:11:53.960 | ask a very sobering question.
00:11:58.060 | Why would God design a baby to live for just two minutes?
00:12:04.760 | That's not a hypothetical question I know, even for many of you who are listening right
00:12:09.120 | now.
00:12:10.120 | Why would God design a baby to live for just two minutes?
00:12:15.120 | That's next time.
00:12:16.120 | When we return on Wednesday, I'm Tony Reinke.
00:12:18.280 | We'll see you then.
00:12:18.840 | [END]
00:12:20.840 | [no audio]
00:12:23.840 | [BLANK_AUDIO]