She was lamenting their financial position going into retirement and saying that maybe she should have made different educational choices. Maybe she should have worked a different job. I sat and listened patiently, and then I told her, “You ask God what restaurant to eat at. I know you seek at least as much guidance in the bigger, life decisions. How can you wonder if you made a mistake?” I saw her lip start to curl into a smile she tried to hide. “Maybe this is just where God wants you for this season.”

My husband and I ask for daily guidance, direction training up our children, running the ministry my husband is the director of, how to be good stewards of all that He is given us… but if we go out to eat, we generally just pick whatever sounds good. Yet, while my husband and I will sit down to a private dinner out, these friends who ask God where to eat have anything but a quiet meal. They come back bragging on God and the appointments He sets up:

Meeting another ministry couple who needed encouragement. (Wouldn’t you know they wound up being the youth leaders from a church down in the cities… the pastor who later performed my daughter’s wedding.)

Praying for a man in the parking lot, who knew God but was feeling disconnected and needed church family.

The waitress that they led to Christ. The guy from Home Depot too.

Everywhere they go, Holy Spirit leads them into conversations with people who are ripe for the harvest. It makes me think again about my simple choices. What might I be missing?

Remember Uzzah? After David failed to consult God regarding how to transport the ark to bring it back to Jerusalem, and Uzzah died, he learned his lesson for a time. So when the Philistines heard that David had been made king and decided to pursue him, David asked God whether God would give him victory if he attacked them. Not only did God give him the victory a first time, but a second time He gave David specific directions about how to defeat Philistine raiders. “As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move out to battle, because that will mean that God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army” (1 Chron.14:15, NIV).

God gave David a sign and a wonder to know that God was with him and he could move out with confidence. It was a pretty amazing sign. 😊 He gives us signs too. Have you ever heard a song in the radio that spoke straight to the heart of an issue you were praying for, and you knew without a doubt that song was meant for you? How about a dream in which God gave you an answer? Or a friend who stopped by with perfect wisdom just when you needed it?

God’s word holds all the answers we need for knowing how to make wise moral decisions, and yet, He cares enough to be intimately involved in steering us through seemingly inconsequential, and even mundane, life events. The outcome can be loads more impressive if we ask Him for His two cents before we make decisions. He made marching trees for David. Maybe He will do it again for you and me. I don’t know about you, but I’m going to ask.

* How do you pick a restaurant?

* Do you find ministry opportunities wherever you go? Are you prepared if you did? If not, how can you get prepared for some God appointments?)

* What are some signs and wonders God has given you that have given you confidence in moving forward?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay