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DISCOVERING GOD'S WILL
Song: Where he leads me, I will follow When he calls me, I will answer Where he leads me, I will follow When he calls me, I will answer I will be somewhere working for my Lord I will be somewhere working (3x) I will be somewhere working for my Lord
Are you in need of guidance? Most Christians believe that God is the Guide of their lives. In fact it is difficult to imagine a Christian who does not believe that. From earliest years, perhaps, you have been able to say: "The Lord is my shepherd … He leads me…. " (Psalms 23:1-2). Certainly during your Christian life, if you are a Christian, there have been many situations in which you have turned to the Lord and said: 'I do not know what to do here, help me!' You have proved his guiding hand in the large and small affairs of life. Yes, you need guidance. Yes, God has promised to be your Guide. Yes, God has undoubtedly guided you already. So far, so good! But we know that things are not always so straightforward. Sometimes we are very deeply perplexed. We do not know what we are to do, or which of two alternative courses of action to pursue. We need guidance from God very much indeed. But how does God guide us? How do we come to recognise what his will is? We are not far along the Christian pathway before these or similar questions begin to puzzle many us. Instead of thinking about the wonder of guidance, we begin to feel perplexed and uncertain. We look back on the 'honeymoon' period of our Christian experience, and we realise that in a gracious, fatherly way, God was smoothing much of the road for us. He was helping us to take baby steps of our Christian life in a guarded atmosphere. "He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart" (Isaiah 40:11). We were too young then to realise all the pitfalls and problems there might be. Now we are older in the faith, perhaps a little wiser and humbler, but probably also a little more complicated and even confused. We still believe that God guides us. But, the niggling question remains: How does God guide us? Our faith in this present century is seriously under test and subjected to diverse pressures than last two centuries. The world in which we live brings its pressures to bear upon our thinking. The spirit of the age in which we live also offers its guidance to us. It is hungry for immediate, short-term results. It is impatient. It cannot see life in the long-term because it looks at life without the perspective of eternal realities. Its guidance might gain us the world in which we live. But since in the process of gaining it we shall lose our souls, where is the profit? Ironically, even in Christendom, we seem to have more guidance than the world does! Guidance by intuition, guidance by dreams, guidance by visions, guidance by prophecies, guidance by tongues, guidance by peer-groups (prayer partners), guidance by leaders - and so on, in an apparently never-ending stream of possibilities. The psalmist has encouraging words for us: "If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." (Psalm 37:23-24). "The Lord confides in those who fear him, he makes his covenant known to them" (Psalm 25:14). God bless you Evang. John B.Oseh |