“Shew me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation, on Thee do I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4,5
Preconceived ideas are often the enemy of guidance, not that they might have a certain merit from a human and logical standpoint, but because they may not have their origin in God. It was Solomon who wrote: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Prov. 3:5) Why did he write this? It is to direct our entire attention to God alone as the one who can truly lead, guide, and direct our lives. From a logical standpoint, it is God alone who has the wisdom, knowledge, love, and goodness to guide, especially when He finds a heart that will truly trust in Him. So, Solomon begins with God when he speaks of guidance.
There is another reason for which we should not “lean to our own understanding,” but acknowledge the Lord in ALL of our ways. It has to do with that which is invisible, our limitations, and God’s sovereign purpose and will. Man was created for God, for His glory, to live a life well-pleasing to Him. However, since the Fall of man, when sin entered into his heart, man’s Divine compass was lost. He no longer possessed the capacity nor the resources to discern anything from a holy, Godly standpoint. He was born in the dark, and there he would live, hoping to find his way. But to find God’s way is impossible by human reason, and knowledge. The Greeks tried. The Hebrews relied upon their religion as a framework for finding God and His way. But regardless of philosophy, religion, or just humanistic methods, man remained in darkness, never quite coming to the knowledge of the truth. All changed when Christ came. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he wrote concerning God, “…who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (2:4) To the Romans, he would write: “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (10:14) When Christ came to this earth, He came as THE Light of God, Light of Life, Light of the World. He came to reveal to lost men, prisoners of darkness, a “great light,” one that would lead them out of darkness. Indeed, by His work on the Cross, the Lord Jesus would deliver fallen and lost men from darkness, bringing them into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9) So then, what about guidance? Where does it begin, and how is it received?
The Apostle John begins his first letter, on the subject of light, by writing: “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 Jn. 1:6) Guidance does not begin anywhere else but IN God, IN Christ, the very source and essence of light. That light is like His words, full of life, His life. It is only in coming to that Light, the Truth and the Life in the person of Christ, that one can see light. Until we come to the place of grasping the utter necessity of seeing Christ as the Light of the World, the only One who can truly guide our steps, that we will recognize His guiding hand, His sustaining grace, and primarily true communion with Him. John goes on to write: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. But if we walk IN THE LIGHT, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1:6,7)
Being led by the Spirit means walking in fellowship with Christ, taking Him daily as our Light and our Guide. The practical aspect of acknowledging Him in all of our ways reveals to us the essential of quiet, disciplined prayer, giving to Christ access to all in the life. Only Christ as our Life can securely guide us.
Dear Father, Lead on dear King. In Jesus’ name, Amen.