By Eugene Prewitt

First, there is a limit to how far in advance we can know God’s will for our personal lives.

They felt sufficient in themselves for all things, and realized no need of a higher wisdom to direct their acts. But the Son of God was surrendered to the Father's will, and dependent upon His power. So utterly was Christ emptied of self that He made no plans for Himself. He accepted God's plans for Him, and day by day the Father unfolded His plans. So should we depend upon God, that our lives may be the simple outworking of His will. {DA 208.2}

There are three ways that God speaks to us:

There are three ways in which the Lord reveals His will to us, to guide us, and to fit us to guide others. How may we know His voice from that of a stranger? How shall we distinguish it from the voice of a false shepherd? God reveals His will to us in His word, the Holy Scriptures. His voice is also revealed in His providential workings; and it will be recognized if we do not separate our souls from Him by walking in our own ways, doing according to our own wills, and following the promptings of an unsanctified heart, until the senses have become so confused that eternal things are not discerned, and the voice of Satan is so disguised that it is accepted as the voice of God. {5T 512.1}

Another way in which God's voice is heard is through the appeals of His Holy Spirit, making impressions upon the heart, which will be wrought out in the character. If you are in doubt upon any subject you must first consult the Scriptures. If you have truly begun the life of faith you have given yourself to the Lord to be wholly His, and He has taken you to mold and fashion according to His purpose, that you may be a vessel unto honor. You should have an earnest desire to be pliable in His hands and to follow whithersoever He may lead you. You are then trusting Him to work out His designs, while at the same time you are co-operating with Him by working out your own salvation with fear and trembling. You, my brother, will find difficulty here because you have not yet learned by experience to know the voice of the Good Shepherd, and this places you in doubt and peril. You ought to be able to distinguish His voice. {5T 512.2}

The previous statement said that God will not guide us if we are not resisting the impulses of our unsanctified hearts. The impressions are not for the big decisions (where to go, who to marry, whether or not to surrender self), but the decisions that "will be wrought out in the character." Impressions may say "you have had enough to eat," "she needs you to listen right now," "don’t jump to conclusions," "the Sabbath is starting soon, be ready." God does not want us to be victims of our imagination, going from place to place because we are thus "impressed."

When we make plans, they may not be good ones. Since we can not see the end from the beginning, we should make our plans in wet concrete (still able to change when Providence makes it plain that we should).

Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, "Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee." This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ. {SC 70.1}

But we should not confound our lack of contentedness, our itchiness for something new and different, with God’s providence. We should be determined to do our duty even if it is as distasteful to us as going to Nineveh was to Jonah.

Many are dissatisfied with their lifework. It may be that their surroundings are uncongenial; their time is occupied with commonplace work, when they think themselves capable of higher responsibilities; often their efforts seem to them to be unappreciated or fruitless; their future is uncertain. {MH 472.3}

Let us remember that while the work we have to do may not be our choice, it is to be accepted as God's choice for us. Whether pleasing or unpleasing, we are to do the duty that lies nearest. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Ecclesiastes 9:10. {MH 472.4}

If the Lord desires us to bear a message to Nineveh, it will not be as pleasing to Him for us to go to Joppa or to Capernaum. He has reasons for sending us to the place toward which our feet have been directed. At that very place there may be someone in need of the help we can give. He who sent Philip to the Ethiopian councilor, Peter to the Roman centurion, and the little Israelitish maiden to the help of Naaman, the Syrian captain, sends men and women and youth today as His representatives to those in need of divine help and guidance. {MH 473.1}

Our plans are not always God's plans. He may see that it is best for us and for His cause to refuse our very best intentions, as He did in the case of David. But of one thing we may be assured, He will bless and use in the advancement of His cause those who sincerely devote themselves and all they have to His glory. If He sees it best not to grant their desires He will counterbalance the refusal by giving them tokens of His love and entrusting to them another service. {MH 473.2}

In His loving care and interest for us, often He who understands us better than we understand ourselves refuses to permit us selfishly to seek the gratification of our own ambition. He does not permit us to pass by the homely but sacred duties that lie next us. Often these duties afford the very training essential to prepare us for a higher work. Often our plans fail that God's plans for us may succeed. {MH 473.3}

But the fact that our plans are not always God’s plans should not prevent us from making plans. It should not make us incline back and forth between options.

Sometimes various ways and purposes, different modes of operation in connection with the work of God, are about evenly balanced in the mind; but it is at this very point that the nicest discrimination is necessary. And if anything is accomplished to the purpose it must be done at the golden moment. The slightest inclination of the weight in the balance should be seen and should determine the matter at once. Long delays tire the angels. It is even more excusable to make a wrong decision sometimes than to be continually in a wavering position, to be hesitating, sometimes inclined in one direction, then in another. More perplexity and wretchedness result from thus hesitating and doubting than from sometimes moving too hastily. {3T 497.3}

When we claim God’s promises for guidance and use all our mental powers to weigh options, God works miracles to bring the right information our way. God can and does bring the needed information to those that are searching for it. When we follow His plan for knowing His will, even our honest mistakes will be made to serve His interests. But we must move forward quickly. Taking too long gives the Devil time to trick us by his deceptions and false "providences."

I have been shown that the most signal victories and the most fearful defeats have been on the turn of minutes. God requires promptness of action. Delays, doubtings, hesitation, and indecision frequently give the enemy every advantage. My brother, you need to reform. The timing of things may tell much in favor of truth. Victories are frequently lost through delays. There will be crises in this cause. Prompt and decisive action at the right time will gain glorious triumphs, while delay and neglect will result in great failures and positive dishonor to God. Rapid movements at the critical moment often disarm the enemy, and he is disappointed and vanquished, for he had expected time to lay plans and work by artifice. {3T 497.4}

There are some rules that would ensure that we will chose the right occupation.

We need to follow more closely God's plan of life. To do our best in the work that lies nearest, to commit our ways to God, and to watch for the indications of His providence--these are rules that ensure safe guidance in the choice of an occupation. {Ed 267.3}

God chooses not to guide us by chance methods. He longs for us to develop mental power, and this comes from thinking from cause to effect. If He gave us visions when we prayed for guidance, we would be inclined to not think carefully about the consequences of our choices. Our mental powers would be shrinking, our imagination existing for only vain purposes.

You endeavor to reach correct decisions regarding religious duties, and to make decisions regarding business enterprises, by the tossing up of a coin, and letting the position in which it falls decide what course you shall pursue. I am instructed to say that we are not to give encouragement to any such methods. They are too common, too much like sleight-of-hand movements. They are not of the Lord, and those who depend upon them for direction will meet with failure and disappointment. Being nothing more than a matter of chance, the influence of adopting such tests regarding duty is calculated to lead the mind to depend on chance and guesswork, when all our work and plans for work should be established on the sure foundation of the Word of God. {2SM 325.2}

The people of God can come to a correct understanding of their duty only through sincere prayer and earnest seeking for the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. When they seek aright for instruction concerning their course of action, these strange and unreliable methods will not be accepted by them. They will then be saved from haphazard work, and from the confusion that is ever the result of depending on human devisings. . . . {2SM 325.3}

Asking for Signs is often the same as flipping a coin. God prefers to guide us by sound principles. If lives are at stake, if the future of God’s church is on the line, as was the case in the story of Gideon, and if you are doubtful that your direct revelations are from God, there might be an excuse to asking for a sign. But even Gideon recognized that asking unwisely might displease God.

But now a doubt arose, since wool naturally absorbs moisture when there is any in the air; the test might not be decisive. Hence he asked that the sign be reversed, pleading that his extreme caution might not displease the Lord. His request was granted. {PP 548.2}

If you must ask for a sign, ask for only miraculous signs, and do not pray out loud. For example, ask that a blue colored light will appear in the sky over the moon if you should go to place A, or a red color light over the moon if you should go to place B. In the great majority of cases, you will get neither. That is because God does not prefer to use signs. But if you make the mistake of asking for a one-sided sign (like, a red light over the moon if I should go, and no light if I shouldn’t) you virtually try to force God to guide you by a sign, because if He does nothing, you will consider it a sign. This is not wise. I do not say that it is good to ask for signs like this (it is bad), only that asking for signs in this way will help to prevent self-deception when God does not give one.

It is a haphazard method, which God does not approve. To men who have suggested such tests, I have said, "No, no." The sacred things which concern the cause of God must not be dealt with by such methods. God does not instruct us that we are to learn His will in any such way. {2SM 327.2}

Will it furnish us with experiences that will glorify God, for us to decide what is His will by the dropping of a card or a coin, and observing how it falls? No, no. Such tests as this will spoil the religious experience of the one who adopts them. Everyone who depends upon such things for guidance, needs to be reconverted. {2SM 327.3}

After the great disappointment of the Adventist people in 1844, we had all these things to contend with over and over again. Then I was raised up from a bed of sickness, and sent to give a message of reproof for such fanaticism. They used different methods. They would select a sign, and then follow the course indicated by the sign. {2SM 327.4}

In one case they would not bury a child that had died, because they understood from the sign that they had set, that the child was going to be raised from the dead. {2SM 327.5}

I was sent to bear my testimony regarding the fallacy of these things that they were using as signs. According to the light that God has given me, there is no safety for us except to take a "Thus saith the Lord." {2SM 327.6}

God also teaches us through nature and through Godly counselors and through the Spirit of Prophecy. But these are not an addition to the three ways first mentioned. The Bible was the first way, and it enforces the other three. Nature helps us reason from cause to effect and subdues our souls. Godly counselors lead us back to scripture and help us understand the providential leadings in our lives. The Spirit of Prophecy is enforced by the Word and provides a solid platform to build on in our studies.

Through nature and revelation, through His providence, and by the influence of His Spirit, God speaks to us. But these are not enough; we need also to pour out our hearts to Him. In order to have spiritual life and energy, we must have actual intercourse with our heavenly Father. {SC 93.1}

There are a thousand temptations in disguise prepared for those who have the light of truth; and the only safety for any of us is in receiving no new doctrine, no new interpretation of the Scriptures, without first submitting it to brethren of experience. Lay it before them in a humble, teachable spirit, with earnest prayer; and if they see no light in it, yield to their judgment; for "in the multitude of counselors there is safety." {5T 293.1}