This Is Your Sign

If you’re reading this, chances are that there is a situation you’re currently trying to discern. Should I take the job? Move strategically? Buy this house? Step into this ministry role? Whether you have something in mind right now or not, chances are you will soon. Everyday we are having to make decisions and discern where the Lord is wanting us to go and what He is wanting us to do. Yet we often are too intimidated to step forward. We often use “God hasn’t called me there” as an excuse. Saying that we need a “sign from God in order to move”. I am not above this, as this is something I am asking the Lord to grow me in currently. Yet if we’re really honest with ourselves, a significant reason why we’re not stepping forward is because we don’t feel equipped to take the role on. We’re fearful of the discomfort we’ll face or the embarrassment if we fail. This is exactly how Moses felt when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. I was reading Exodus 3 the other day and was surprised by the sign that God gave Moses in vs. 11-12. “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ He said, ‘But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.’” Moses didn’t get the sign until after he stepped forward in obedience. This is not the way we like to think that life typically works, is it? We wait and wait until some big moment happens that secures our confidence to move forward. Yet what if all you’re given is a call from the Lord with no promise of a sign until after you complete the task God has set before you?

I know it can be easy to think. “But Moses literally encountered God. If God verbally told me through a burning bush to step forward, obviously that would be enough of a sign for me and I would do it” But would we really? Unlike Moses, we as believers now have the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the whole canon of Scripture. I’m sure if Moses was around he would say something along the lines of, “But they have God literally dwelling within them and God’s full word that talks about speaking up for the oppressed and enslaved. Obviously that would be enough of a sign for me and I would do it”. Since the Fall, this has always been the reality of human nature. We are prone to doubting, fear, and disobedience. 

There is a caveat to this. I am not suggesting that you just blindly do whatever you want to do and then just expect God to give you a sign afterwards. This is not a workaround to getting what you want and then saying, “Surely God will give me a sign that this is right later”. That is just trying to rationalize your own selfish desires. Instead, I think a potential indication that you are in a similar boat is highlighted in Moses’ heart in vs. 11.  “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” It was clear that this was not Moses’ plan A. Step into a role that you don’t feel equipped for, in a place that you don’t necessarily want to go? Doesn’t sound like Moses’ ideal plan for life. Yet this is the very thing God often does. He calls the weakest individual, the most unlikely to succeed, and uses them for His glory. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me’.

I remember when I was considering living in Boston, someone asked if I felt called to move here. I told them that if God provided the housing and a job, then I would move. They proceeded to tell me how they moved here without a job or even a place to live and then how God provided through that. This encouraged me and challenged my thinking of God’s ways. When the time came to prepare to move, I didn’t have the funds. Yet I still stepped forward and trusted that the Lord would be with me and provide a way if it was what He was calling me to. About two weeks before I moved, I was hired for a part-time job, and I was able to raise enough funds to work at King’s Hill. Within six months of moving, God provided more funds, and I was able to quit my part-time job and work fully at the church. In my first year of transitioning to Boston I often felt like asking God, “Am I really supposed to be here? Did you really call me to Boston?” Yet three years later, I look back and the sign that I was called to Boston was simply that the Lord allowed me to move to Boston. 

So I want to encourage you today. Step forward, trust God, and be expectant for how He will show Himself on the other side. Take courage that the Lord is with you as He calls you to obedience. Perhaps the sign you’re looking for is both the call itself, and the result on the other side. 

*For further study on decision-making, I highly recommend Pastor Kevin’s recent blog, Decision Making and the Presence of Jesus.