Joshua 1:6-9
Here are 3 common signs that often mean God is preparing you to make a big decision soon.
1. If a Major Change Is Needed in Order for You to Express Your Trust in a Biblical Doctrine, This Is a Good Sign God Is Preparing You to Make a Big Decision Soon
While many of us want a detailed list of directions like, “Turn right at Smith Street, then turn left on West 80th, then go two miles to reach your destination,” this is not how God usually speaks. Rather, God more often says something like, “Head north” and then allows us to make choices on how to get there.
Through these big truths we call “doctrines,” God will let us know when we are headed north or if we are off track and veering south. Doctrine is not like a list of detailed directions but it’s more like a compass telling you which way God wants you to travel generally. Doctrine won’t help you know what specific steps to always take to follow God’s will. But doctrine will help you know what general direction to travel in life if you are trying to follow God’s will.
In Joshua 1, God was preparing Joshua and Israel to make a big decision to finally leave the desert and enter the Promised Land. Joshua 1:6-9 states:
Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
God didn’t print out a list of twists and turns that he wanted Joshua to follow exactly. He basically said, “Head that way into that land, and along the way, obey my word. If you obey my word, whatever decision you make as you head that way, I will make you succeed.”
Therefore, God will lead you to make big decisions in life when they are required in order to express your trust in big doctrines. If you need to make a big change in life in order to honor the Lord, God isn’t going to give you a million little steps to follow. He will say something more like, “Head that way towards me and obey my word along the way. I will then make your way prosperous because I will be with you wherever you go if you are obeying my word.”
2. If Your Life Circumstances Are Demanding Different Results, This Is a Good Sign God Is Preparing You to Make a Big Decision Soon
Because we know God is sovereign over all things, this allows us to look at our life circumstances and gain evidence for what God is saying to us.
For example, if you were wondering if God really wanted you to date someone but then that person moves across the world and marries someone else, this is a good sign God didn’t want you to date that person because the circumstances have now made this impossible. Or if you are wondering if you should look for a new job and then your company just announced that they are going out of business, this would be a good sign God does want you to look for a new job because the circumstances in your life are demanding this now.
One great example of this principle occurs in the life of Paul and Barnabas. They were out preaching the gospel to the Jews, but God then led them to make a big decision to then start preaching the gospel to the Gentiles because the Jews started to persecute them. Acts 13:45-46 states:
But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles.’”
God wanted Paul and Barnabas to switch course and start preaching to the Gentiles, and he made this clear to them through allowing circumstances to occur in their lives that demanded that they make this big decision.
Likewise, if the circumstances in your life are demanding you to make a big change, this is a clear sign God is preparing you to make a big decision soon.
3. If Your Heart Is Craving Different Results, This Is a Good Sign God Is Preparing You to Make a Big Decision Soon
Sometimes God will lead us to make a big decision by changing the circumstances around us. But at other times, God will lead us to make a big change in life because our hearts can no longer stand to stay still in the circumstances we are currently in. God can make his will clear not only by changing the world around you but also by leaving the world around you exactly the same but then changing your willingness and desires to stay in this environment any longer.
We certainly do need to be careful here because it’s very easy to start following your own desires rather than actually following God. But oftentimes God will lead you through the desires he gives you. Of course this will only occur through biblical and holy desires and never through sinful, unholy desires. For example, notice how motivated Paul was to follow his desires to preach the gospel. 1 Corinthians 9:16-18 explains:
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.”
If God has put a holy burden on your heart that you can’t currently fulfill unless you make a big change, this is a good sign God is preparing you to make a big decision soon.
