Introduction: 1 Cor. 2:16 (This passage clearly teaches that we cannot know God's mind. However, many pretend to know the mind of the Lord. Some comment that "God is doing this in my life", or "God did that in my life". This knows many extremes ranging from assumption of prayer activity to interpretation of major daily events. The phenomena is well illustrated in a Dagwood And Blondie cartoon. In the first frame a rake falls in front of Dagwood. Dagwood concludes this is a sign from God for him to work around the yard. In the fourth frame he stumbles onto an old golf club while gathering tools. Now he decides this is a sign from heaven for him to play golf. Can we really know what God is doing? Can we with certainty say that some event in life should be directly attributed to him? Let's look at the scriptures to illustrate the folly of pretending to know what God is doing.)
A. The Folly: (When God tells us in his word he will do a certain thing, we can know with certainty God has done that. But when God chooses not to clue us in we cannot know. Consider the folly of claiming to know what God is doing.)
1. God's Ways Past Finding Out: Rom. 11:33 (God's ways are unsearchable and past finding out. How foolish is it for us to think we've found them out!)
2. God's Ways Above Our Ways: Isa. 55:8-9 (God's ways and thoughts are so far above our ways and thoughts that we cannot possibly predict or understand them.)
3. Can't Discover God's Works: Eccl. 3:11 (It is plain and simple. You cannot discover God's works. You cannot say for certain he has done or is doing something in your daily life. You may suspect some things should be attributed to God, but you cannot know for certain.)
4. Even The Wise Cannot Know God's Works: Eccl. 8:17 (Some may claim to be spiritually superior, and therefore privy to God's activity. This is the consummate spiritual arrogance. God says even the wise can't figure him out.)
B. The Pitfalls: (There are certain pitfalls to trying to interpret God's scheme in daily events, especially in trying to read them like tarot cards and act on them.)
1. Bypasses The Word: Jer. 10:23, Mt. 4:4 (Trying to act on a shaky interpretation of daily events is dangerous because it bypasses the word. We are supposed to be directed by God's word, not our own commentary on divine activity. For example, consider a man who is a drunk. He gets drunk, has a wreck and nearly kills himself. He thinks later that, "maybe God's trying to tell me to stop drinking". He's listen so close for God's voice in daily events that he refuses to hear what God has been screaming from the Bible for thousands of years!)
2. May Contradict The Word: Gal. 1:8-9, I Jn. 3:4 (When you bypass the word, you are certain to eventually violate it. So we have a situation where some act based on their interpretation of daily events and wind up transgressing God's law. That makes it sin. And we shouldn't sin, even if there was something as spectacular as direct communication from an angel telling us to do it. For example, some have claimed God led them to divorce their spouse and leave their family.)
3. Vulnerable To Deception: Deut. 13:1-5 (God warned Israel that heeding false voices would cause them to be deceived.) Acts 28:3-6 (The people here incorrectly assumed a snakebite was a sign from God that Paul was wrong. They were deceived.)
C. The Motives And Symptoms: (The practice of trying to second guess God is symptomatic of other spiritual problems. Also, it sometimes reflects ill motives.)
1. Lack Of Faith: Jn. 4:48 (Some people just won't believe or get excited unless they think they've seen a sign. This shows spiritual shallowness and a lack of faith.)
2. Self-Will: Jer. 44:16-19 (These people falsely interpreted circumstances and concluded they should not worship God, but the queen of heaven. This reflected their self-will to do what they wanted, not what God's prophet said.)
3. Like Sinners: Jer. 10:1-2 (God did not want Israel to be like sinners in taking note of and fearing so-called signs.)
4. Wickedness: Mt. 16:4 (Jesus called these sign seekers wicked and adulterous. This indicates a sign seeking attitude is reflective of wickedness.)
5. Idolatrous: Acts 17:22-25 (Paul said the idolatrous people of Athens were guilty of trying to make God and religion more tangible and physical to them. People who seek signs and try to second guess God are attempting to make God more tangible. This is the same fundamental problem that fuels idolatry.)