“HOW DOES GOD GUIDE US?”
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"How Does God Guide Us?" (Audio) - June 20, 2004 Text: Psalm 25:4-9
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Psalm 25: 4-9 4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. 8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
Most people realize that we can use a lot of guidance in life. We are faced with decisions all the time about relationships, friendships, family, marriage, and child rearing. We have to decide how to use our time, budget and spend our money, and plan for the future. We have to decide how we will overcome our temptations, handle our challenges, resolve our conflicts, and make the most of opportunities. Even our everyday decisions can have a big impact on our lives, the lives and feelings of other people, and our relationship with God. We need guidance in life.
Many people today say: “Sure we need guidance, but where are you going to get it?” A teaching of the Bible is that there is a God who made us in his image and one of the things he offers us, in a relationship with himself, is the guidance of a heavenly father.
One of the things that separate the Christian view of guidance from pagan and modern views of guidance is that Christ and the Bible teaches us that real guidance from God always comes in a real relationship with God. You see that here in Psalm 25:5, guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. The cult view of guidance is something you get through certain crafts or ceremonies. You read the tealeaves, cast the bones, and look at the stars to get some information. You see into the future and do what you want with what you discover.
The modern view of guidance is a product that you buy. Personal trainers, financial advisers, and marriage counselors all have information that you need and pay for. You may or may not have a real relationship with those people, but that is not essential. They have information you need and don't have, and you can get it from them for a fee.
When the Bible talks about guidance it is talking about something that is different from both the pagan and modern view of guidance. The Biblical view of guidance is fatherly. You can ask for and receive guidance from your father in heaven. Sometimes even if you don't ask for it you are going to get it.
God's guidance is active, concerned, engaged, and committed to you.
Sometimes God guides us through the wise counsel of other people.
The Bible encourages us to get counsel and advice, and to listen to it.
Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.
Proverbs 20:18 Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.
Sometimes God guides through the circumstances of life
In 1 Corinthians 16:9 the apostle Paul talks about God opening a door of opportunity for effective ministry.
Proverbs 16:9 says: In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps life to open doors and close doors and guides us into his will.
The counsel of others and the circumstances of life are both important ways that God guides us in life, but they are not the most important ways in which God offers us guidance. There are two other ways that God guides us in life that are stressed more strongly in the Bible.
Psalm 25:4 is a heartfelt prayer for God to show us His ways, and teach us his paths. The Bible itself is the primary way God answers that prayer. The word “Bible” comes from the Greek word for "book”. The Bible is the book God inspired to show us His ways, and teach us his paths.
Sometimes when we see celebrities advertise products on TV we wonder if they really use what they are advertising. When you study the life of Christ there's no question that Jesus Christ lived his whole life immersed in the light and truth of the same Bible to which he points us as our ultimate source of guidance in life. In Luke 11:28 Jesus said, "Blessed ... are those who hear the word of God and obey it."
If you want God's guidance for your life, look first in the Bible.
Federal Express once ran a commercial similar to the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a Fed Ex worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a deserted island for years. Looking like Tom Hanks in the movie, the Fed Ex employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the lady comes to the door he explains that he survived 5 years on a deserted island and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her.
She gives a simple, "Thank you", but he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, "If I may ask, what was in that package after all?" She opens it and shows him the contents saying, "Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds."
The irony of the ad is that this man had spent five years on a deserted island, the whole time having in his possession a package that contained a wealth of resources. These resources would have helped him in his situation, but he never dug into the package to discover its contents.
The Bible is full of resources. You have the moral, spiritual, and relational guidance that provides you with a wealth of resources for life's greatest challenges. These resources are not addressed to someone else; they are intended for you. Open up the Bible, dig in, and use it.
Some people say: "I don't know how to find the guidance I need in the
Bible." Let me offer some practical suggestions.
1.) Most Bibles have what's called a “topical concordance” in the back of them. If yours does not, you can buy an inexpensive paperback Bible that does. You can use that topical concordance to look up key words and it will tell you Bible verses that use that word. You can look up words like “Money” or “Marriage” and it will show you verses in the Bible that speak to those issues. One thing to note is that a concordance will only give you verses that use the actual word you are looking for. So if a verse uses the word "husbands" but not "marriage" you won't find it under "marriage". If you want to use your concordance to help you get guidance on an issue in life, write down two or three key words that are related to that topic. Don't just look at marriage, but look at "husbands" and "wives". Don't just look at the "money", but also the words "giving" and "contentment".
2.) Start building your own Bible knowledge through regular Bible reading and Bible study. This is one of the key purposes of our Sunday Morning Fellowship Bible Studies. The more you read, study, and memorize the Bible the more it's teachings and thought patterns become yours.
3.) Draw on the resources of the community of Christians to which you belong. Christ Community Church is not just a service to attend on Sundays, we are a fellowship of Christians, a community of faith, and we are here to help and support each other in a life of Christian discipleship. If you don't know where to look in the Bible for the guidance you need, ask others to help you. If you don't know where to find something in the Bible, ask the members of your growth group, the leader of your Fellowship bible Study, or call the church office.
In every situation and choice you face, the Bible should be the first place you look for guidance, the constant source for checking and evaluating the choices you are making, and the final authority for the direction you take. Get into the Bible and get God's guidance into your life.
When looking for God's guidance in the Bible don't just look for what to do but how to do it.
The most important guidance the Bible gives us is guidance into an empowering relationship with Christ as our Savior and source of life.
Notice at the heart of David’s prayer for guidance in Psalm 25 there is an expression of faith in God as Savior. Psalm 25:5-7 says: Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.
The Bible tells that we need a Savior because our sins separate us from God. We deserve the judgment of God, but God loves us. Jesus Christ, who is God the son in human flesh, came to suffer and die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and rise again as our Lord. The Bible tells us that if we admit that we need God and His forgiveness and turn to him humbly trusting Christ as our Lord and Savior, He will come into our life with incredible grace and love. The love relationship into which He brings us, the forgiveness with which he enfolds us, the promises he makes to us, and his own presence always with us are things that empower us and set us free to not only receive but to follow His guidance.
God's guidance first of all (and continually) guides us into a relationship with him and his grace that empowers us to do what he leads us to do. Let God's guidance in the Bible continually guide you into a deeper, richer, empowering relationship with God and guide you into the specific things he wants you to do.
The Bible is the primary means of guidance in our lives, but it is not the only way God guides us.
The Bible often talks about being led by the Spirit. Romans 8:14 says, “... those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. “ The leading of the Holy Spirit is something that goes on within your heart. It's an impulse, impression, motivation, or thought leading and guiding you into God's will for your life.
The Holy Spirit often gives us specific guidance in areas the Bible does not address.
In the book of Nehemiah 2:12 Nehemiah speaks of "what God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem." This was something very specific that God was guiding Nehemiah to do.
Sometimes we need very specific guidance from the Spirit of God.
The Bible tells me to love my neighbor, but I don't have a generic neighbor popped out of a cookie cutter. I have to learn how to best show love to a very specific person and I need wisdom and guidance for that. Where do I get it? Common sense, sure that helps but you also need specific wisdom and guidance from God.
The Bible tells us that if we ask God for guidance we will receive it.
Psalm 25 teaches us to pray for guidance, verses 4-5 again: Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
James 1:5 gives us a promise about this kind of prayer. It says: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. What this means in practice is that we need to set time aside to pray and say: "Lord, what do you want to say to me that I need to hear today?” Ask him specifically, "Lord, what's the next step for me? What areas of my spiritual life need to be developed? How am I doing with my family? How should I face these issues?" Ask for wisdom and when you ask, ask expectantly, listen quietly and respond with humility and obedience. God promises that when you ask in faith for his guidance for the purpose of receiving that guidance and doing his will, he will answer you. Deep hurts will be healed, spiritual breakthroughs will occur, and needed solutions to difficult problems will take shape and become clear and God's guidance will be given.
Prayer is a two-way conversation. In the ALPHA course we're asked to imagine going to a doctor with a number of problems. You say, “Doctor, I have a fungus growing under my toenail, my eyes are itchy all the time, I have joint pain in my right elbow, lower back pain, I think I'm running a fever, and may I have the flu.” You go through all these problems and then you glance up at the clock and say: “Wow, it's late, I've got a lot to do so I've got to go now. Thanks for listening.” The doctor might want to say, “Hold on a minute. Don't you want to hear what I have to say?” If whenever we pray we only speak to God but never take time to listen, we make the same mistake.
In Psalm 46:10 God says, "Be still, and know that I am God." I believe that teaches us that when we are still or quiet there is a greater spiritual receptivity or capacity to receive God's truth. Being still and knowing that He is God goes together in the same way that being quiet and receiving God's guidance goes together. The truth is we can easily miss God's most helpful and beautiful interventions and messages because our minds are so distracted, cluttered, and busy. When we are quiet we can better recognize the thoughts that God is interjecting into our hearts, and we can better receive the guidance that begins to surface in our hearts as the Spirit of God stirs our thoughts.
Sometimes you find the apostles saying that the Lord led them to do certain things, but sometimes the apostles say things like; "We thought it best," or "It seemed good to us." They are not saying the Holy Spirit had no place in those decisions, they are saying the Holy Spirit worked in and through their natural thought processes as they asked for guidance and relied on Him.
Listening for God's guidance in response to our prayers does not mean waiting for a dramatic vision or an audible voice. It does mean being spiritually receptive to the Spirit of God within us, working together with our reflections to bring clarity and direction.
When we pray for God's guidance we need to listen to God expectantly and quietly.
Whenever we believe we are receiving God's guidance we need to be sure to test it.
1. Any guidance that isn't in harmony with the Bible isn't from God; reject it. Don't claim to have a leading from God to something sinful, destructive, or clearly contrary to the Bible in some other way. The Bible tells you that you are to live in wisdom and that love does not behave itself unbecomingly.
2. Any guidance that doesn't promote the fruit of God's Spirit isn't from God; reject it. The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Any guidance that fails to promote those qualities is not from God.
3. Any guidance that might affect others ought to be confirmed by others; test it. We need to be committed to obeying God, but we need to be humble enough to receive counsel and advice from others. God often works through others to guide us.
Conclusion
Have you ever been in an unfamiliar building and you stopped someone to ask for directions? Sometimes they say: “OK, what you do is take these stairs to the third floor, turn left at the second door, go down the hall to the water fountain...” Have you noticed how much better it is when the person says, “Follow me and I'll show you where you need to go”?
In this life, all of us need some help in getting where we need to be. The good news is that we have a guide who not only gives us direction, but also goes with us in life. Our guide is our God and our Savior. Christ died and rose again for us, we can trust in him.
Trust in Him as your Savior and follow his guidance. Look for it in the Bible and respond with faith and obedience. Listen for it in your heart and be led by the Spirit.