Let man avoid seeking revelation of the divine will through tangible signs.

With his persistent search and the denial of our own will. Our Lord also practiced self-denial with absolute obedience to the Father. God is not moved by passion or error or ulterior motive or ignorance or weakness. Because “he knows everything before they are done,” he unerringly expresses his will, for the cohesion and security of beings, either partially or completely according to the presented need.

Creations, under the imperfection of their finite and perishable nature, come into conflict with the divine will, since the latter often does not agree with their own interests and purposes. Universes, as causal, cannot by themselves advance towards the best, towards perfection, without the cohesive power of the Creator.

This practical providence is perfect in its nature, since it comes from the most perfect God and we call it, in other words, divine will. However, because of the corruption and the twists and turns to which we have submitted, the divine will is transformed and moved into the realm of “economy.” It is never abolished, but is changed - as we have said -, due to our own weakness, until it brings us back into balance.

The “good will” of God, for our rational nature, is that “all men should be saved and come to the full knowledge of his truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). However, human indifference or weakness or ignorance causes a change in the divine will. This leads the ignorant and those who are ignorant to some discomfort and discouragement. Based on the infallibility of the divine will, no discomfort or murmuring or retreat is permitted, but the discovery of our own error and submission with faith in Providence are required. If “not one jot or one tittle shall pass away” (Matt. 5:18) and if “the very hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matt. 10:30), what complaint is allowed about the apparent anomalies of our own wretchedness? As Paul describes, “you began with the experience of the Spirit. How is it that you now come to trust in human powers?” (Gal. 3:3). Our own decisions and plans are based on our own judgments and conclusions, because we see as much as our field of vision allows us. However, God, who provides for his creation, will not thwart his decisions, but will change the way elements, things, and even people operate, in order to achieve the most beneficial outcome.

Discovering what the divine will is will depend on the degree of our own effort to seek it, on the denial of our own will, which is passionate, imperfect and biased, and on the advice of the Church: “Ask your father and he will tell you; ask your elders and they will tell you” (Deut. 32:7).

A sound conscience and the decision to keep precisely what we have decided and promised to God, since nothing escapes Him “who knows the hearts and the kidneys (thoughts and desires)” (Ps. 7:10), often inform us of the divine will, since in both cases divine mercy approaches. Also, the presence and action of divine fear, sympathy and charity are very pleasing to God, who does not hide his will from the implementers of practical love, which characterizes him himself.

It is good for man to avoid asking God to reveal his will to him through tangible signs, as some do, because Satan can, because of this pride of ours, inform us falsely and misleadingly.

(Elder Joseph of Vatopedi, Discussions on Athos, Psychofeli Vatopedina 13, pp. 117-120)