Here to There: Discourse on Biblical Guidance
If you have been in worship for the past four weeks, you are well-aware of Mike Honeycutt’s sermon series on God’s will. “How do I discern God’s will?�? is often asked of pastors and church leaders. Mike has spent the past weeks explaining the views of guidance from God, defining the guardrails of God’s moral law, and how God speaks to us. You may hear each sermon in its entirety through the Southwood website (www.southwood.org/sermonaudio.html). The following excerpt from John White’s book, The Fight, summarizes our need for godly guidance.
People throughout the world over cry out for personal guidance. Millions scan syndicated horoscope columns daily, searching for soundings to navigate the day’s treacherous waters. Christians may search the Scriptures but are often bewildered, uncertain alike of chart and compass.
Their anxiety may lead them to the borders of superstition. When I was a boy, I mingled with Christians who went in for promise boxes. Inside the boxes were tiny rolls of paper that could be extracted with a pair of tweezers. As the box was passed round the room, you pulled out your scroll (much like the ones in Christmas crackers and Chinese fortune cookies) and unrolled it to read a Bible verse plus a religious rhyme.
“That’s just for me!�? someone would cry as the box was passed from hand to hand. “That’s the very message I needed for today!�? I was only young, but something about the whole process of fitting the words on the little scroll to my own life seemed to increase my anxiety rather than diminish it.
Though few Christians are so naive in their attempts to find guidance, many are uneasy and uncertain, longing not only for guidance itself but for a clear understanding of how God gives direction.
It is strange that it should be so for the God of the Bible is described as one who does all he can do to guide us. Such is the constant theme of the Psalms. “He shall be our guide eternally�? (Psalm 48:14). “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way�? (Psalm 25:9). “I will teach you, and guide you in the way you should go. I will keep you under my eye�? (Psalm 32:8).
Before leaving his disciples Jesus was at pains to reassure them that his alter ego, the Holy Spirit, would be faithful and invaluable guide to them. “I will not leave you bereft; I am coming back to you�? (John 14:18). “He will guide you into all truth�? (John 16:13). It is strange in view of the repeated assurances in the Bible of God’s readiness to guide that his children should be so confused and anxious about the subject.
Though the Bible never uses the word guidance, it does talk about a Guide. You may seek guidance, but God desires to give something better: Himself. The point I am making is a profound one. It is more than a play on words.
And deep in your heart it is a guide, even more than guidance, that you want. Which would you prefer to have while driving in heavy traffic through a strange city, a complicated set of instructions from someone on the sidewalk or a kindly stranger who ways, “Look, I’m on my way there right now. If you’ll let me hop in, I’ll show you the way�?? If you are a new student on a large campus, dizzy and bewildered by the complexities of registration, it is help from the fellow student who is willing to take you round that counts, not the campus map or written guide book.
Horoscopes fail not only because they are vague, inaccurate and sometimes evil, but because they are impersonal. There is no one to discuss matters with, no one to take your hand. For you as a Christian, guidance is meant to be an aspect of your ongoing relationship with God. He wants you to know him. Being guided by him is part of that.
Already you must have perceived that there are at least two elements in guidance that are inseparable in experience: directions and support. I may inquire for Smith Street. On the surface I am requesting a set of directions. But beneath the surface I am anxious. I am lost. My uncertainty about where I am, whether I can understand and follow directions accurately all make me crave reassurance. It will sound foolish if I say, “Are you sure I am going to be able to get there all right?�? Yet if I were a child, not a man, that is just what I might say.
“My sheep hear my voice,�? says Jesus, “and I know them, and they follow me�? (John 10:27). It is not only direction but also the reassurance of his presence that is promised. “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest�? God told Moses (Exodus 33:14).
“How very infantalizing,�? some of my psychiatric colleagues would respond. “The Christian seems to be reduced to perpetual dependency. He never become mature enough to take responsibility for his personal decisions. Not only does he have to be told what to do but he needs someone who will hold his hand while he does it.�?
Dependency: Yes. Infatalization: No. Like all human beings you are basically dependent, you were created to be so. Many was never meant to have the kind of maturity which makes him independent of God. Through all eternity you will bow the knee to him and rejoice over the sweet comfort of his presence.
But you will mature. Although maturity and the capacity to be independent are related, they are not synonymous. As you mature both the kind of relationship you have with God and the type of guidance you will require of him will change. You will grow more loving and trusting. You will more often know, without needing to ask what he would have you do because you will know him and the manner of his thoughts.
In order to understand how this can be so, you must grasp two things about the nature of divine guidance: First, God has an overall goal for your life; second, God’s goal is a moral goal. His plan for you has less to do with geography than with ethics. His supreme object is to make you like his Son (Romans 8:29). Whether the process of making what he wants of you involves travel, money, joy, pain or whatever is secondary. His goal is to make you holy, and the kind of guidance he will give you will reflect this.