How
does God guide you? I suspect that we often
don’t even seek his guidance. We may not
admit it, even to ourselves, but we function from what one author has called
“functional atheism.” In spite of our
professed belief in God, we forget about him completely when it comes to the
practical, ordinary events of life.
Instead, we trust our own intuition or ability to think through a
situation. Or, we may turn to a trusted
expert (let’s check the forecast before scheduling the family picnic). Other times, we’ll rely on superstition (wear
those lucky socks for the Steeler game!) or blind chance. Our first challenge, therefore, is to become
more aware of God’s active presence in even the most minor aspects of our
lives, so we can seek his guidance and instruction more fully.
But
even when we have resolved to seek God’s guidance, we run into a second
challenge. How can we discern the Lord’s
guidance so that we can follow faithfully?
Scripture, of course, is the “witness without parallel,” as the
Presbyterian Confession of 1967 puts it.
The Bible, above all else, provides God’s authoritative instruction for
life and faith. Unfortunately, however,
the Bible frequently does not include clear guidance for specific decisions you
may be making. It’s clear, for example,
that you shouldn’t punch your neighbor in the nose when you’re angry with
her. But the Bible won’t help you decide
how to manage the family budget or if you should trade in your car this year.
We
are also able to discover God’s will for us through prayer. And unlike Scripture, prayer is a means for
God to provide us with tailor-made instructions. Problem solved, right? “Take it to the Lord in prayer,” as the old
hymn puts it. Well, not so fast. God’s instructions through prayer may be
specific, but our ability to recognize his instruction leaves a lot to be
desired. We easily confuse the Lord’s
voice with what we think the answer “should” be, or with what we want the
answer to be. We often fail to recognize
his voice in the midst of all the others that vie for our attention. To complicate matters even more, God often
guides in startling ways, challenging us to view our situation completely
differently. If we’re not prepared to be
surprised, we may dismiss what God has to say.
In
addition to the authoritative but general guidance of Scripture, and the
specific but easy to miss guidance of prayer, God blesses us with a third means
of guidance: the wisdom of other believers.
Even though we are all imperfect followers of the Lord, he often uses
others to point us in the right direction.
Last winter I had two conversations that illustrated this point for
me. The first was with a member of our
congregation who wished she could attend church, but is unable to because of
her health. As she put it, “I need the
church to correct errors in my thinking.”
An hour or two later I spoke with another congregation member who was
planning a dangerous course of action.
He told me, “I feel this is what God wants me to do, despite what others
say.” The first person appreciated how
God “corrects our errors in thinking” through the wise advice of fellow
Christians. The second person refused to
accept such guidance, and did so at his own peril (although I’m happy to report
that he is safe).
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