Signs, Biblical Guidance, Character Development and “God Told Me…”

As Christians make intimacy a priority, they will inevitably wrestle with the concept of being led by God.  How does God lead?  Is Scripture His only tool?  Does He use signs and circumstances to direct us?

What should you do when someone says, “God told me _____________________!”?  This “spiritual trump card” puts an end to many claims that should be explored further.  For example, two people are arguing about what should be done at church.  One person turns to the other and says, “I know what you’re saying, and I know the circumstances.  But I’ve been praying, and GOD TOLD ME ___________________.”  How do you argue with this claim?  Did God really speak?  Who knows?  But if He did speak, you don’t want to be the person who says, “I don’t care what God says, I think we should do _____________________.” 

Our approach to being led of God can either be an asset or a liability.  In this post, my plan is to simply share some challenging concepts written by some pretty influential men.  You may agree or disagree with the statements.  However, I hope you will sit with the quotes and think through the implications for your life.

Bob Mumford, discussing the spectacular forms of guidance, remarks:

“Signs are given to us, because God meets us on the level where we operate…In guidance, when God shows us a sign, it doesn’t mean we’ve received the final answer.  A sign means we’re on the way.  On the highway we may pass a sign saying, ‘New York: 100 miles.’  The sign doesn’t mean we’ve reached New York, but it tells us we’re on the right road.

God wants to bring us beyond the point where we need signs to discern His guiding hand.  Satan cannot counterfeit the peace of God or the love of God dwelling in us.  When Christ’s abiding presence becomes our guide, then guidance becomes almost unconscious response to the gentle moving of His Holy Spirit within us.”

Dallas Willard, discussing the concept of Bible Deism:

“Frankly, there is abroad in the world today, and very strongly present in conservative religious circles, a position we may aptly characterize as ‘Bible deism.’  Classical deism, associated with the extreme rationalism of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, held that God created his world complete and perfect and then went away leaving humanity to its own devices.  There was no individualized intervention in the lives of human beings, no miracle.

Bible deism holds, similarly, that God gave us the Bible and then went away, leaving us to make what we could of it, with no individualized communication through the Bible or otherwise.”

E. Stanley Jones, speaking on God’s development of character as a means of guidance:

“Obviously God must guide us in a way that will develop spontaneity in us.  The development of character, rather than direction in this, that, or the other matter, must be the primary purpose of the Father.  He will guide us, but He won’t override us.  The fact should make us use with caution the method of sitting down with a pencil and a blank sheet of paper to write down the instructions dictated by God for the day.  Suppose a parent would dictate to the child minutely everything he is to do during the day.  The child would be stunted under that regime.  The parent must guide in such a manner, and to the degree, that autonomous character, capable of making right decisions for itself, is produced.  God does the same.”

Dallas Willard, discussing the implications of people saying, “God told me…”

“When God speaks to us, it does not prove that we are righteous or even right.  It does not even prove that we have understood correctly what He said.  The infallibility of the messenger and the message does not guarantee the infallibility of our reception.  Humility is always in order.

This is an especially important point to make because the appeal to “God told me” or “the Lord led me” is commonly used to prove that I am right, or that you should follow me, or that I should get my way.  No such claim is automatically justified.”

If these statements cause internal tension, ask God if the source of the tension is error in the statements or fallibility in our previously held convictions.  Either way, we will be better off by thinking through the matter.