How do you know the difference between the Devil fighting against you and God just saying "no"?

[Ravyn_Guiliani]

How do you know the difference between the Devil fighting against you and God just saying “no”?

In my life I have tried to do what I knew was right at the time and it has always been a struggle. For the last three years my husband has been trying to make a success out of being in Security–got certificates and his teaching licenses and even got Supervisor of the Month last month, but nothing he does works. He can’t do Armed Services when all his weapons are in the Pawn Shop…the school that pays twice as much as he makes now for teaching is 3 hours away and we can’t even think about moving. He made more money than he is now 10 years ago delivering phone books for the Mormon church! So what is this? The Devil fighting against us? And if so, why doesn’t God let us know we are doing the right thing? Some indication that we are on the right path? Or is it God saying no we are not doing the right thing? And if so then why doesn’t He tell us what the right thing is? We would do it if we knew what it was.

I will look for your answers and thoughts over the next couple of days because I am going to web-read only on all my groups because after March 1st I may not have Internet access from home for a couple of months. I will miss you all but sometimes little things like food and electricity (LOL) are more important than an ISP. I hope to be back soon.

Thanks,

 

[HouseArrest]

The only thing I can say is to keep praying. Maybe it will become clear to you soon…

I have asked the same type question myself, except it was concerning disciplining my children. When you do say “this is not working?” and try something else? I mean you don’t want to “quit” before your work comes to fruition, but you don’t want to waste time, either.

I will keep reading as well!

 

[Dan_Grelinger]

Ravyn,

Some thoughts that may help you:

I don’t think God ever says ‘no’ to us. I believe the Bible supports a view that he always says ‘yes’. He never says yes to evil, sin, and what is not good for us, and always loves us and gives us what we need. If we think God is saying ‘no’, it is perhaps that he is saying yes to something else that is better for us. If we are open to that, we will then actively search for what it is that He knows is best for us.

As far as your husband’s selection of a work vocation, I think that the free market system is playing a much more significant role than God (or even the evil one) may be. God will, of course, want your husband to limit his choices to moral careers, but after that, his choice will be driven by free markets. If a person wants to sell snow to the eskimos, I don’t think it will matter how much one asks God to be successful at that, it just is not going to happen. It appears that your husband is trying to make a career out of something that is not valued very highly by others. The key to making a living is finding what is valued (i.e. what pays well) and doing that. The most valuable thing that I did when deciding on a a career was to list the things that I thought I could do, and then research the average salary for each of those things. I knew I could be an excellent paper delivery person, but that one fell low on my list after accounting for the pay. I also thought I could be a good mechanical engineer, and that one fell very high on the list. My career choice was driven by market dynamics (which is just another way of saying that it was driven by what people needed, i.e. what they found valuable enough to pay for). That is the way this world works, and it is not incompatible with God’s way.

Sincerely,

Dan Grelinger