Anyone who has ever gone on a tour to a place of historical or cultural significance will be familiar with following a guide. We have had numerous encounters both good and bad throughout the years we have traveled. The best are passionate about their history and/or religious perspective. The worst drone on through hours in the hot sun just doing their job.
The point is, that without the guide -my chances of getting lost, committing some horrible social faux pas, wandering into restricted areas and getting shot or jailed, increase dramatically. Without a guide, there is also simply the failure to be able to communicate with the locals and the inability to understand and appreciate their culture.
God knows that we need guidance!
We need guidance to meet our basic physical needs. (Like the wonderful driver in Northern India who could always seem to find me a bathroom in remote locations. Bless him!)
Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Isaiah 58:11 “And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”
We need guidance to keep us out of trouble. (Like the helpful guides who tell you ahead of time what NOT to take pictures of before the authorities confiscate your camera.)
Psalm 121:7-8 “The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
We need guidance to know truth from lies. (I always appreciated the guides who told me when vendors were scamming me.)
John 16:13 “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
However most important, we need guidance simply because we do not know the way.
Isaiah 42:16 “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.”
Luke 1:79 “to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Some people find discerning God’s guidance complicated. Here are some helpful principles from Dallas Willard quoting F.B. Meyer.
“Look for three lights: circumstances, impressions of the Spirit, and passages from the Bible. Rick Warren adds ‘the godly wisdom of Christian counsel.’
‘God’s impressions within and his word without are always corroborated by His providence around, and we should quietly wait until these three focus into one point…If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do. And when the time comes for action, circumstances like glowworms, will sparkle along your path. You will be so sure that you are right, when God’s three witnesses concur, that you could not be surer though an angel beckoned you on. ’F.B. Meyer”
I have always imagined it was easier when the Angel of the Lord did show up for the Abraham, Israelites, Joshua, Gideon, Zechariah, Peter, Philip. In a surprising number of these cases, the humans involved continued to question, negotiate, and argue.
So much so, that by the time Gabriel gets to Zechariah, one gets the impression he has had enough of obstinate, unbelieving humans.
Luke 1:19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
We also sometimes are asking God for directions because we don’t like the ones he has already given us.
“Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person’s seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.” Elisabeth Elliot
Whatever you do, don’t lose sight of your guide! (My husband teases me that when we are traveling in remote locations, I often abandon him and stick with the guide. Hey! He knows the way out!)
The great part about following our Guide is that even if we get it wrong, He can make it right.
“Guidance, like all God’s acts of blessing under the covenant of grace, is a sovereign act. Not merely does God will to guide us in the sense of showing us his way, that we may tread it; he wills also to guide us in the more fundamental sense of ensuring that, whatever happens, whatever mistakes we may make, we shall come safely home. Slippings and strayings there will be, no doubt, but the everlasting arms are beneath us; we shall be caught, rescued, restored. This is God’s promise; this is how good he is.” J.I. Packer
Love this old hymn,
| Guide me, O thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but thou art mighty; hold me with thy powerful hand. Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more; feed me till I want no more. 2. Open now the crystal fountain, whence the healing stream doth flow; let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through. Strong deliverer, strong deliverer, be thou still my strength and shield; be thou still my strength and shield. 3. When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside; death of death and hell’s destruction, land me safe on Canaan’s side. Songs of praises, songs of praises, I will ever give to thee; I will ever give to thee. Text: William Williams, 1717-1791 |