“Stop waiting on a sign from God!” Here’s why…

It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:13)

Fannie Lou Hamer suffered inconceivable injustices. She was born into generational poverty, cheated out of wages, coerced by doctors into a hysterectomy against her will—the list goes on and on.

Hamer longed to fight against these injustices. But there were two major problems. First, speaking out against injustice in Mississippi in the mid-1960s often got you killed. Second, Hamer was taught to “let go and let God” handle your problems. If she was going to do more than that, it was going to take a sign from God. And on a summer night in 1962, that’s exactly what she got.

“Stop waiting on a sign from God!” preached James Bevel from the pulpit. 

Upon hearing those words, Hamer’s hand stilled. Her paper fan—and the sweltering humidity—were briefly forgotten as she leaned in to hear what the preacher had to say. 

Reverend Bevel’s goal was to stir fellow Christians to register to vote so that Mississippi’s cycles of injustice could be put to an end. “Do not ignore the clear signs!” Bevel urged. “God’s time is upon us; let us not back down from the challenge [to claim the right to vote now, not later]!” 

For the first time, Hamer was hearing a call to action rather than to patient longsuffering. To a lifelong Christian like Hamer, Bevel’s injunctions to trust in God and roll up one’s sleeves to participate in the fight for justice “seemed like the most remarkable thing that could happen in the state of Mississippi.” And also one of the most biblical.

Yes, Scripture tells us to trust that the results of our work are in God’s hands (see Deuteronomy 8:17-18, 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, and John 15:5). But it also says that God often uses our hard work to bring about those results (see Philippians 2:12-13, Colossians 3:23-24, and 2 Corinthians 5:20). Commenting on this tension, theologian J.I. Packer said, “The Christian’s motto should not be ‘Let go and let God’ but ‘Trust God and get going.’”

Embracing that tension between trust and hard work defined Fannie Lou Hamer’s life. It should define ours as well.

So here’s my question for you today: What’s one thing you’ve sensed God calling you to do, but that you’ve held off on in the name of waiting on a sign from the Lord? Whatever it is, hear Reverend Bevel preaching to you this morning: “Stop waiting on a sign from God!” Consider this devotional your sign. Trust God and get going by defining a single action you can take today to make progress on that project for God’s glory and the good of others.