Season: 10 Episode: 150
Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
Is asking God for a sign wrong? If God were to give you a sign, what would that look like today? Everyone seeking a sign uses the example of Gideon in the book of Judges. Shanda takes you on a deep dive into Old Testament history and what you can do when you need God to confirm a decision or path in your life. Those who seek after a sign from God sincerely want Him to lead them, but there is a better and more effective way to hear from Him. Seeking after signs can be dangerous, but don’t worry. God wants you to seek Him for His leading in your life.
Recommended Resources:
Cross Examined Article: Is Teaching Your Kids About God Child Abuse?
Website: shandafulbright.com
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Email: hello@shandafulbright.com
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Is asking God for a sign wrong? If you’re not sure about a decision or if something is from God, is it appropriate to ask Him for confirmation through a sign? We’re talking about all of that and more today.
Before we get into the episode, we are about to start the Train Your Brain logic class LIVE with Dr. Frank Turek and myself. Class starts September 9th and you can sign your student up for the premium course and/or you can sign up for the adult course. Trust me when I tell you you want to learn logic, especially with all of the gaslighting, manipulation, and appeals to emotion we see during this election season. Go to onlinechristiancourses.com to register.
You may have noticed I took my introduction out of my podcast.
Honestly, you guys – it annoys me. I don’t know but it does. So if you’re new here, I take cultural issues and tackle them with biblical truth. I am a Christian apologist who loves to talk about the basics and foundational truths. That is one reason I started to do reaction reels on YT and IG. If you follow me there you will see them but it helps us as Christians to think through the things we are facing in this culture and work through them from a biblical worldview. So that’s that.
Also, I shared this review on IG last week but I want to share it here. And let me tell you, it came at the perfect time because I was about to speak at a conference and whenever I do, without fail, I get all up in my head and thoughts of you’re not good enough, or you’re not smart enough, go through my head. And I read this review and it really encouraged me. it says, “Shanda has a contagious and inspiring personality!” Ok, let me stop right there. I don’t feel like I do on this show. So this was really interesting to me and it made me happy because if you guys knew me in real life, you would hear me laugh so loud at really stupid things.
My husband sort of makes fun of me because if there is a joke about someone passing gas, they get me going.
I blame it on my parents – well, my dad.
But on the podcast, I don’t feel like my personality comes through. Ok, so here’s the rest: “I feel much more informed about biblical truth and how to apply scripture to every day life and relatonships by listening to her podcast. No matter the topic, I never miss an episode and always learn so much! Thank you, Shanda, for sharing your wisdom and personal stories with fellow Christians and even planting seeds in non-believers. You’ve helped me to seek more knowledge, more understanding, and a deeper love of our Lord and savior. Keep up the incredible work!”
Honestly, I love this review!
It shows me the faithfulness of God in your lives even if I cannot see your face while I talk into this microphone. Reviews like this make it worth the hours it takes to research and script these episodes. Whenever I do an episode or write down topics to discuss, I aways think of my audience and what will be beneficial to you because I do know a group of you.
If you email me or message me on social media, I always try and answer you because I see you as real people trying to connect with a real person like myself. I’ve always told myself, and often pray this prayer, that no matter who many followers I get, to try and answer as many as I can personally because it keeps me grounded in why I do this. And I’ve said this before, but I want to say it again, I do not get paid to do this podcast.
I do not get paid to post on social media.
I am not monetized and I have no sponsors. And I do it because I am a teacher at heart and this is the way I get to teach and share the truth of God’s word. That’s it.
So these reviews are the wind in my sails. They are the encouragement I need to step into a conference and know that God has put me here and the message He has put in my heart needs to be heard because it helps the church to be encouraged and be strong in the Lord. So thank you so much for every 5 star rating and review. As you can see, I do look at them. I appreciate every one of them. And I just wanted to share with you how they impact me and my life.
Today we’re talking about asking God for a sign. Some of the questions we’ll answer are:
- What is a sign?
- What does the Bible say about signs?
- If we’re not sure about our next move or a decision, what do we do?
What is a sign?
When people want a sign from God to confirm a message is from Him, or that they should do a certain thing – like when making decisions or facing an important choice – they are looking for something supernatural, or some kind of confirmation that only God would know about that situation.
When we talk about signs we often couple that word with wonders. But is it bad to seek after a sign? Is it wrong to look for the supernatural? First, let me say that I used to ask God for signs of confirmation all the time. I don’t think this is out of the ordinary, especially in a charismatic church. In fact, it can be encouraged. The last time I remember asking God for a sign was about ten years ago or so, maybe a little longer. I was walking on a very windy day and I wanted the Lord to help me figure out whether or not I should do a program my church was offering. It would be about a 9 month commitment. And as I prayed, I asked God to stop the wind if He wanted me to enroll in the program.
Now, I feel silly admitting this, but I’m giving you an example and using myself to do it because if nothing else, it keeps me humble. But as the words left my mouth, the scripture immediately came to my mind, “I am not in the wind.” It’s what Elijah found out when he fled Jezebel who vowed to have him killed. God was not in the earthquake.
He was not in the wind.
He was in the still small voice. In other words, God speaks to us. In Elijah’s days God spoke through the prophets. Elijah was a prophet, so he had a different relationship with God than most did. God spoke directly to him. But today, He speaks to us by His word. John 1 tells us the word became flesh and dwelt among us. The logos – God’s thoughts, God’s words, is manifest in Christ and we now have the Holy Spirit who leads us and reminds us of Christ’s words, and we have the Bible. Needless to say, the wind didn’t stop. And God reminded me that I didn’t need the wind to stop. He was right there with me and would lead me as I made these decisions.
I looked up some things on Quora – a site people go to ask questions, and someone asked this:
“I have been praying alot and have been doing what God wants us to do in order for Him to be with me and to be with me in everything I do and to confirm my steps. Also, I pray for some personal things.
(I do it out of love not because I want a gift basket of gold from God the genie in the sky)
Would it be a sin or disrespectful to ask for a sign?
Like God if you´re with me in this new job, or if this is to be my wife etc… Can you give me a sign to confirm that this is from you, or you will be with me in this etc…. Or God if you want me to stop doing/praying for (X) and instead focus/pray for/do (Y) Please send me a sign
Thank you all. Id love for some scripture on this.
Some of the responses were:
Instead, ask God for discernment and wisdom.
The person wrote back and said, “I’ve been doing that for a long time.”
I thought this answer was hilarious: “One time last year, I prayed & asked for a sign & I opened up my Bible. It opened to Mark. And the first thing that popped out at me was Mark 8:12. I laughed so hard and never asked for a sign again. 😆 I hope you get the confirmation you’re looking for.”
And here’s one that I knew would come up: “The story of Gideon’s Fleece might help you.
I struggle with making decisions as well and if it is what God wants for me, which I am sure many Christians struggle with it.”
We’re going to talk about Gideon and his fleece soon, but evyerone uses Gideon to justify asking God for a sign.
Is that justifiable?
We’ll discuss it.
But in it’s most basic form, a sign is confirmation from God that He is telling you something but it’s distinct to you in some way. It could be something completely random to one person, but to you, you take these things as signs of God speaking to you. To some people it’s opening the Bible to a random verse. To someone else it could be the timing of a stop light turning green. And to someone else, it could be a random person on the street coming to them as saying, “God told me to tell you _____.” Can God operate this way? Sure, He can. God is not limited. The question is, does God operate this way? Are signs the way God speaks to us? Let’s go to the Bible to find out.
What does the Bible say about signs?
First, let’s revisit the difference between the way God spoke in the OT compared to the way He spoke in the NT. In the OT, Jesus had not come, the Holy Spirit was not given, so God spoke through prophets. It was basically oral tradition – so the Bible was often read aloud by leaders. No one had the ESV, or NIV, or three different Bibles sitting on a shelf in their house. They had to go to the prophet to hear from God. So when you see historical narratives in the OT – like Gideon, Moses, and others who received signs from God – don’t automatically think that’s how God speaks to us today. We’ll get to that in a minute.
People, like the example I read to you from Quora, (the questions asking site) – will mention Gideon as proof that you can ask God for a sign. Let’s read about Gideon and how God answered him with a sign before we move on:
Judges 6:33-40
33 Now all the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples joined forces and crossed over the Jordan and camped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, summoning the Abiezrites to follow him. 35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, calling them to arms, and also into Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, so that they too went up to meet them.
36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— 37 look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” 38 And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” 40 That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.
Prior to this, Gideon asked God for a sign that it was God speaking to him.
God called Gideon to lead the people against the Mideonites a few verses before and Gideon asked for a sign to make sure it was really God who wanted Him to do this. God proved Himself. Now, starting in verse 33, Gideon is asking for a sign that God really is going to help him defeat the Mideonites. So asking God for a sign is something Gideon did often. It’s almost the way he operated, but remember, God spoke to us differently during this time in history because access to God was limited to priests and prophets. Once the Holy Spirit came to all believers after Christ’s death and resurrection, the barriers of communication with God changed because the veil of the temple tore in two from top to bottom as soon as Christ died.
We live in the last days – the days after Christ. We have all of the benefits of communicating with God because Christ gave us access to the Father. Let me do a brief timeline of how we communicated with God starting in Genesis so this might be helpful and make more sense on why signs today aren’t pleasing to God. But don’t worry. I’m going to talk about asking God to confirm what He wants you to do and what that might look like today.
So hang in there with me.
Genesis 2: God walked with Adam in the garden. There was full access to God because man had not sinned. There was no barrier of communication.
Genesis 3: Man sinned and was kicked out of the garden. Sin brought a separation between God and man. God would not walk with man in the sense that they fellowshipped freely like they did in the garden.
Exodus/Leviticus/Numbers/Deuteronomy: These are the books of the law and tell us about the priests who entered the holy of holies, offered sacrifices for the sins of the people, and talked about the barriers (limited access) to God. The Holy of Holies is the part of the tabernacle that represented the presence of God. No one could enter but the priest and even he had to be careful how he approached it.
So all throughout the OT, you see book after book where God used specific people to proclaim the message.
We call them prophets.
Saul, David, Sampson, Eljah – when you read about them, you see that the Holy Spirit came upon them and they were able to prophesy, have the strength that caused them to battle Philistines alone, and accomplish miracles that God gave them the power to do by His spirit. But then you see where the Spirit did not reside in them as the temple of God. Why not? Because Christ had not come. From Malachi to Matthew, there was 400 years of silence where God did not have a prophet. There was not voice on behalf of God. It was John the Baptists who broke that silence when he, the cousin of Christ, said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us how God speaks to us: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”
Those who are looking for a sign really want God to speak to them.
But here’s the thing: I know that those who do want a sign that God is in this decision or that idea, or whether or not to move forward with a new job, a relationship, or something you feel called to do – are doing it in sincerity. You don’t want to make a mistake. You want to know the right way to ask for and look for God’s presence and nod in the direction you’re pointing, or if not, you don’t want to go that way. So what does that look like?
I think we have to understand that Gideon was asking for the same thing. He wanted to make sure God really wanted him to lead the army against the Midianites. This was a huge endeavor and Gideon was afraid. In those days, God was willing to give signs. However, I do not think we should be throwing fleeces today.
So what do we do?
First, know that Jesus said this to the religious leaders when they asked for a sign in Matthew 16:1-4, “16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ 3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.[a] 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.”
In context the religious leaders were asking for something more than just direction or God’s leading in a situation. They were asking Jesus to prove He was God. I don’t know that when Christians ask for signs they’re asking for God to prove He exists. I think, like I said, we’re asking for God to confirm that He’s in this thing with us, or let us know not to go that way. In the context of Matthew 16, Jesus had already been performing miracle after miracle and He said, “If you don’t believe who I say I am, at least believe the miracles because they testify to who I am.” The religious leaders were playing a game. And Jesus said the sign of all signs was the sign of Jonah. Which means that just like Jonah was in the belly of a fish for 3 days, so He would be in the grave for 3 days and 3 nights and then rise again.
So what do we do?
Do we ask for a sign, do we not ask for a sign? I know. You’re probably like – Shanda, you’re no help at all. Let me lay it out straight for you and then I’ll give you a few things to weigh and measure as you look for God to lead you in things you’re not sure about:
First, the days of throwing fleeces are over. Don’t tell God to do some supernatural thing like stop the wind of make the ground wet to prove He’s there. That’s not how we do it today. We have his word for some guidance. We have the Holy Spirit to direct us through conviction and leading.
Instead, ask these questions as you weigh your next move:
- If I do this, is it a sin?
If you are married and you wonder if you should get a divorce, the answer is no. Unless there’s some abuse or infidelity, you already know that that is a sin. God won’t ask you to go against His word.
2. Did God already speak about it in His word?
If you want to know if you should lead a Bible study or disciple someone of the same sex, God has already spoken on that. God has called us all to go and make disciples. You don’t need God to give you some sort of confirmation about something when He has already spoken.
3. Will this cause you to neglect the things you’ve already committed to?
I am a firm believer in being a person of my word.
Once I commit to something it should be followed through. So if going in this one direction or doing this one thing causes you to neglect the first things first – like taking care of your family, or fulfilling prior commitments, then you should not do it.
Now, there are some things that might not be that easy. That’s why God has also told us to wait on Him. God does open doors for us to walk through. He also closes doors. I routinely ask the Lord to show me through people He has put into my life, or by opening and closing doors, so that I know the direction He wants me to take.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, if someone told me they wanted a sign from God, I would ask them, “What do you mean by sign?” We need to define that word. God has given us all we need to live a life of righteousness in Him. We have His word and we have the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth. I am convinced that if you are in the word of God, you will have more clarity on what to do next because you will know how God wants you to live just by what He’s already said.
But don’t forget that sometimes God wants to grow us and mature us by waiting on Him. I see this all the time with things we want – like finding a spouse, or getting a new job, or getting into a certain college. Sometimes what we need is not a sign but patience in the waiting. And while you wait, stay in the word.
God has your best interest at heart.
Be careful with wanting a sign. And be even more careful with needing a sign. God can operate that way but the primary mode of communcation is through His word by the Spirit.
If you have questions for me, email me at hello@shandafulbright.com. And if you message me on SM and I don’t answer back, please send me an email. There are times I just cannot get to my DMs and I don’t like to leave long messages there. Also, SM can bog me down. I have to take breaks from it at times and I sometimes miss Dms because of it. But if you email me, you will get an answer. I hope this episode encouraged you. And I’ll catch you on the next one.
e next one!
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