June 23, Live Guided
The Lord will guide you continually.
Isaiah 58:11
The question is not, “is God’s guidance available?” The question is, “how much to you desire and seek after His guidance?” For, God makes His guidance continually open to you and me. The Lord will indeed guide you continually. With His counsel, by His Word, and through His Spirit, He will guide you. Like a Shepherd who leads His sheep, He will guide you. He will direct you and teach you. His guidance is yours. From within the “knowing” (meaning, the relationship with God through Jesus Christ), He will guide you. From within the listening (meaning your daily posture of one listening to Him speak), He will guide you. His guidance is yours. So, the question is not, “is His guidance available?” The question is, “how much do you desire His guidance?
As much as His guidance is available, such divine direction should not be “hard to come by.” But many are the followers of Jesus who struggle to know God’s actual guidance. So, what keeps the Christian from receiving God’s guidance personally and practically?
Perhaps we cannot know His personal guidance because there is some unconfessed sin. Perhaps we cannot know His guidance because we look too much at self. Perhaps we cannot know His guidance because we spend too little time with God through His Word. Perhaps we cannot know His guidance because we have never truly given ourselves over “to the mastership of the Lord Jesus.”[1]
What keeps us from knowing His guidance personally and practically?
Is it unconfessed sin? Even the slightest hidden transgression (like a buried grudge against another, or the most private though) can hinder our hearts from truly being open to our God. Proverbs 28:13 reminds us, “whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper.”
Are we looking too much at self? To make much of Jesus is the only real condition for soul health. Solomon has reminded us, “pride goes before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). Paul has reminded us, “think not more of yourself than you should” (Romans 12:3).
How much time do we spend with God through His Word? In Joshua 1:8, the direction Joshua received was that “this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you will meditate therein day and night.” Regular time in God’s Word positions the heart to hear from God. Joshua was in desperate need for God’s help (as the newly placed leader of Israel). And, one of the initial commitments for Joshua was consistency with God’s truths.
Are you living under the Lordship of Jesus Christ? The essence of Paul’s preaching was, “Christ is Lord,” and “ourselves as bondservants for Jesus’ sake.” When our own identity concentrates on His Lordship and our position as His servants, we will truly be postured to receive His guidance.
His guidance is available to you! Check yourself at this moment against the above four questions. Determine, with God’s help, where there may be defects in your own personal walk of faith. Do not ignore this great need of self-evaluation and self-examination concerning the spiritual health of your life. What is keeping you from truly hearing Him, and knowing His direction? Settle this today, and be on your way to truly experiencing God’s hand guiding and leading you.
Blessings.
READ
Read Joshua 1:1-18, and notice how God directed Joshua’s path.
[1] F. B. Meyer, The Secret of Guidance, 17-18.
