Here are 3 signs that may mean God is leading you to try a different path that you have not tried before.
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1. If You Want Something Good and There Is a Wise Approach to Get It That You Have Not Tried Before, This Is Often a Sign God Is Telling You to Try This Different Path
There is an age-old debate among Christians about God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. While this debate often revolves around theology, it’s important to also take a look at how your views about this topic are affecting the way you live.
For example, if you are hyper-focused on God’s sovereignty and you ignore all the verses in the Bible telling us to live wisely and work hard, then it’s possible you might become passive, just sitting around waiting for God to deliver a blessing on your doorstep like a FedEx deliveryman. However, if you are hyper-focused on man’s free will and you ignore all the verses in the Bible about trusting God to provide as you wait on his timing, you may press so hard you might just keep trying the same things over and over again while getting the same old results.
So in one sense God provides what we need (Matthew 6:31-33) but in another sense he also requires us to work for what we need (2 Thessalonians 3:10).
One way you can live biblically balanced as you seek to rely on God’s sovereignty while also taking personal responsibility for your life is to make sure you have tried all the wise options available to you without trying the same options over and over again hoping to get different results.
For example, if you want a better job, there are many ways to pursue this. You could go back to college to get more training, you could talk to your manager about taking on more responsibility, or you could switch careers to something that has more room for growth. However, it would be unwise to just keep trying one of these options. For example, if you go back to school and got a second degree but now you are still struggling to get a better job, it would not be smart to go back to school to get a third degree. Perhaps you need to try something different besides getting more education. Perhaps you need to take on more responsibility at work or switch employers. But when you have tried everything and nothing works, then you can be at peace and fully surrender this over to God since it’s out of your hands now.
With all that said, whatever path you take, it ultimately comes down to God’s will for you. He’s the one who has the final say. But you often won’t really know what he is saying until you try all your options, which brings us to our next point.
2. If You Need to Try All the Possible Paths to Get What You Desire Before You Can Accept This Is Just Not God’s Will for You Right Now, This Is Often a Sign God Is Telling You to Take This Different Path
Sometimes God speaks to us in our hearts. He will just say, “Do this” or “Don’t do this.” At other times there will be a clear Bible verse that tells us what to do or not do. But at other times, God will speak through the events and circumstances in our lives.
This is important to realize because God may lead you down all the paths to get something as a way of letting you know he does not want this for you. When you have exhausted all your options, it can be sad but it can also bring you peace because you can now accept this is simply not God’s will for you. But if you still have options and you could still make wise choices to pursue something good God may have for you, you will always have doubts and regrets if you don’t walk down those paths to see where they lead.
So even if this different path does not lead you to where you hoped, at least you now know this and you can have peace. You don’t want to live with regret, wondering if you just tried that one last thing, perhaps things would be different. Because Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew they had done all they could to obey God, whether God saved them or not from the fiery furnace, they were at peace:
If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18)
3. If You Don’t Know What You Want But You Just Know You Need Something Different to Happen in Your Life, This Is a Good Sign God Is Telling You to Take a Different Path
Death by boredom may be one of the worst ways to die. We all want to be safe, but safety as a primary goal leads to a meaningless and pointless life. There are times in life where we will wake up one morning and say, “How did I get here? I don’t like this life I’ve created for myself.”
It’s in these moments where we may not know what we want but God is making it clear what we don’t want. This is a good start. The path to your purpose often starts with first discovering what isn’t your purpose. We often have to knock on a lot of locked doors to see which one is actually open to us.
If you are in a confusing season of your life, you may not know exactly what you should be walking towards. But if you do know what you should be walking away from, that’s a good start. Do that first. If you are unhappy with something in your life, try something different even if you are not sure this thing you are about to try is the long-term answer. Overtime, God will make his will clear to you if you keep moving forward with him.
As Paul wrote in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own . . . I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
And again, if you have made a New Year’s resolution to win the war on lust, my course called 30 Days of Sanctifying Your Sexuality might really help you start this year off on the right foot. For the scholarship and more information, feel free to click here. I’m Mark from ApplyGodsWord.com. Until next time, God bless.
