My small group is doing a study on grace that is based out of Psalm 23.  A couple of weeks ago we were up to the section “Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me” and the write up talked about how a shepherd communicates with the sheep by gently nudging them along or throwing the staff out in front of them if they are headed toward danger.   Of course, the point being that God teaches us sometimes by nudging us into things and sometimes by warning us when we are approaching somewhere we shouldn’t be.

Here’s my issue – sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between a warning when we’re heading to danger, spiritual opposition from danger or just realities of everyday life that just happen to impact us.

For example, I’m going to England this week.  See where this is going?  I know this trip is something that I really want.  I know it makes sense as the next step of faith to take.  I know that I’m going to learn a lot.  However, I haven’t had writing on the wall to go.  There was no booming voice from Heaven.  God didn’t speak to me in a dream.  I’ve been wanting to do the Transit program with 24-7 prayer, but I can’t figure out how to take 9 months out of my life to do it.  This program was the chance to do 10 days of training instead.  Perfect, right?

So, there are currently a bunch of people trying to blow up England.  Two car bombs and someone driving into an airport.  Warning from God?  Spiritual opposition?  World events that just happen to brush up against my life?

Right now I’m betting one of the latter two and plowing ahead with plans.

But it does beg the question of when we receive setbacks if we simply fight harder to overcome spiritual opposition, listen to the rod of the shepherd, or ignore the whole thing?  Obviously, prayer plays a big role in this.  I usually also ask a trusted friend outside of the circumstances who often have a little more perspective on things.

Most of all though I think (at least at this point) is to look at what you’re heading toward.  If I was heading off to a decadent holiday with some questionable activities, I’d be more likely to take it as a warning.  I’m heading toward some life giving activities, so I’m fairly certain that it’s not God saying not to go.

This is the easy one.  It’s much harder in gray areas.  Is not finding a house quickly a sign that this is the wrong direction to take?  Is it just the normal journey a first time home buyer goes through?

I still have a lot to learn about wisdom and discernment.