God works in many ways, and divine
guidance operates through many channels. God
guides according to the need. Sometimes we need
more guidance than at other times. On some
occasions we need different guidance than at
other times, but the wisdom of God knows just
how much and what kind of guidance we need, and
he has promised to give that guidance. We shall
note some of the methods of guidance.
God leads with his hand. “I, the Lord
thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, fear not” (Isa. 41:13. As a father takes
his child by the hand, and leads him along the
way, supporting him if he stumbles, assisting
him over the obstacles, guiding him into the
smoothest places, so God leads his children. We
are often conscious of such guidance. He has
said, “My presence shall go with thee.” So he
walks with us along life’s way. He meets all our
need for guidance. He often smooths the pathway
before us, gives us strength for our
difficulties, and we have the sweet
consciousness that we are not left alone, nor
left blindly to go in our own way. This
character of divine guidance is very blessed,
especially in times of difficulty. But divine
guidance never assures us of an easy road. It
assures us that we shall be holden up, that we
shall not be overcome, and that we shall be able
to walk in a way that will please the Lord. Of
course, God does not literally hold our hand,
but he guides us as though he did hold our
hand---the results are the same as though we
could feel the touch of his hand upon ours.
God guides us with his voice. In Acts
8:26 we read: “And the angel of the Lord spake
unto Philip saying, arise and go toward the
south unto the way that goeth down from
Jerusalem unto Gaze, which is desert.” We are
not told whether there was the appearance of any
form, but there was a voice of guidance, a voice
that revealed the will of God in a definite and
understandable way. Philip knew that the
instructions were from God; so he immediately
followed them. In verse 29 we read: “Then the
Spirit said unto Philip, go near and join
thyself to this chariot.” We find another
instance recorded thus: “As they ministered to
the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said,
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them” (Acts 13:2). Paul,
speaking of his journey to Jerusalem, said, “I
went up by revelation (Gal. 2:2). We do not know
the exact method employed in these instances,
but we do know that the message conveyed was
plain and definite; it was understood to be the
voice of God, was unhesitatingly obeyed, and the
results of obedience were good.
God often speaks into the conscience,
causing us to have an inner conviction of duty
that is as unmistakable as though an angel from
heaven stood before us, and gave us a message
from God. God often speaks to our reason,
bringing to our attention things for our
consideration, illuminating our understanding,
bringing texts of scripture and various other
things to our remembrance. By this means he
often makes plain his will.
God spoke to Peter and to Cornelius
in visions. His language was definite and his
purpose made clear. He spoke also to Joseph,
warning him to take Jesus and to flee in Egypt.
Such things were not chance visions or dreams;
neither things which they imagined they heard.
It was the voice of God giving them definite
instructions; and more than that, they
recognized it to be the voice of God. There was
not question as to what their conduct should be.
Things that come to us and leave us in
uncertainty, that tend to confuse and bother us,
should not be regarded as the voice of God. We
may not always understand, at once, all that is
meant, and the instructions may be only partial,
but they are sufficient for the time being. When
the voice said to Peter, “Rise, Peter, kill and
eat,” he did not know the full application of
the words. They conveyed to him only a part of
God’s message, but in due time he was given the
understanding. And so, if God makes his will
clear in part to us, we should wait till the
full understanding comes, at least a full enough
understanding to make our course plain and our
duty clear, though many times we have to go
forward in obedience without knowing what the
final result will be.
God often guides in judgment. The
spiritually enlightened mind judges wisely. He
who sincerely desires to know God’s will, and
holds an attitude of submission to it, may be
assured that God’s promise, “The meek will he
guide in judgment,” will be fulfilled toward
him. The exercise of a divinely enlightened
judgment, which takes into consideration the
principles of divine truth, is one of the safest
of any guides in which to trust. Sound judgment
and discretion will save us from many blunders;
keep us out of many errors; keep us balanced;
and will keep us safely within the will of God.
Many times we have divine guidance in
judgment when we have no especial consciousness
of guidance. The man who trusts God for guidance
receives that guidance, but many times he needs
no other guidance than the enlightenment of his
judgment. However, to trust to our judgment
without seeking divine guidance may result in
acting upon our own judgment independently of
God. When we use our judgment, with a prayer to
God for guidance, we shall not err in the way,
or if perchance we should, that error may after
all prove to be God’s way of guiding us.
God guides us with his eye. “I will
guide thee with mine eye” (Psa. 32:8). How does
God guide with his eye? He cannot speak to us
with his eye. He cannot hold our hand with his
eye. He cannot instruct our judgment with his
eye. How, then, can he guide us with his eye?
Here is a form of guidance that is often
unrealized. God may be giving us definite
guidance, and at the same time, we may be wholly
unconscious of it.
When God guides us with his eye, he
watches the path before us. He sees that which
threatens, and fortifies us against it before we
reach the place of danger. He drives away the
enemies that lurk in wait for us. So the
promise, “I will guide thee with mine eye,”
means much more to us than we can comprehend.
Many times when we seem to be walking alone,
God’s eye is leading us. So dark a night never
comes to us, but, that the eye of God pierces
through its gloom, in order to guide our
footsteps in the way of truth.
God leads us in giving us directions.
In this day of automobiles, many people ask
directions. They are going over a strange road.
They wish to know how to go. So we say to them,
“Go so far straight ahead, then turn to your
right, then after you have gone to such and such
a place, turn to your left. That road will lead
you where you wish to go.” Such directions guide
a traveler over his way, just as though we had
gone with him. In like manner, God gives
directions on the way to glory. These
instructions are found in his Word. There is
guidance in the general teaching of principles,
also by precepts and examples. This guidance is
both negative and positive---it shows us what we
ought to do and what we ought not to do. Very
often the Scripture is given a special
application to us by the Holy Spirit in order to
enlighten us concerning God’s will. In all
questions that involve moral principles, the
Bible is the standard. No guidance that goes
contrary to it is divine guidance. No inner
impressions that go contrary to it are divinely
given impressions. God’s Word being the standard
of human life and conduct, we should go to the
Word first, for guidance. When the Word speaks,
it is useless to seek other guidance. When duty
is made clear, it is presumption to seek other
guidance in the duty that is already known.
But if the Word reveals duty only
partially, or only the principles of duty, it
may sometimes become necessary to seek special
guidance in the application of those principles
in order to go forward in the duty. The
application of Biblical principles to an
existing situation may require further divine
guidance. That guidance may be confidently
expected, if earnestly sought. We should not
take one isolated text alone for our guidance,
but the general teaching of the Bible, for many
times one text is modified by other texts, or
its meaning illuminated by other texts. We need
to get the broad, general idea. Suppose we take
the text, “Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world,” and give it a
universal application without making any
exception whatever. We may then suppose that we
are not to love anything or anybody. To receive
guidance from this text, we must learn the Bible
definition of the world, which we are not to
love. Where the Bible says, “Give to every man
that asketh of thee,” we must not take this text
in its unlimited sense, but find out from its
connection and from other scriptures what
limitations God puts upon it; then follow it out
in this limited sense. That is, give to those
who are in need, and ask.
The Scriptures are a sage guide when
properly used, but when improperly used they may
lead us into the wildest fanaticism and far away
from the will of God. So we must use our
intelligence, our best judgment, and make a
careful search of what is taught in the Word, in
order to have reliable guidance from it. One
thing stands out clear, however: it is never
sage to go contrary to the teachings of the
Bible. The Psalmist said, “Thou shalt guide me
with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to
glory” (Psa. 73:24). The Bible is full of wise
counsel. When we follow its counsel, we walk in
a sage path. When we disregard it, we walk in
slippery places.
God guides us by his providences.
Sometimes he does this by creating favorable
conditions, or by permitting things to happen,
that reveal opportunities or duties to us.
Sometimes God places barriers in our way in
order to turn us from the path we would have
chosen, into the path of his choosing. We have
an example of divine guidance in the sixteenth
chapter of Acts. Paul and his company were upon
a missionary tour. They went from church to
church until they had made the rounds of those
congregations where they had preached before.
Then something else was to be done. A new course
was to be struck. It seems that they had planned
to go on through Asia Minor, but they “were
forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word
in Asia” (v. 6). When God says, “No,” what shall
we do? They tried to go some other way: “After
they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into
Bithynia; but the Spirit suffered them not”
(v.7) Again God said, “No.”
Has not this experience been
duplicated many times in other lives? We lay our
plans and start to carry them out, when suddenly
and unexpectedly God says, “No, not this way.
You must give up your plans.” And when we give
up our plans, what next? Well, we generally try
to do something else. We plan again. We should
not do this, if we knew God’s will, but like
Paul and his company, we do not know his will,
and circumstances compel us to do something. So
we do the best we can, or the best we know, and
start out in some other direction. This they did
only to run into another wall, another “NO” had
stopped them short in their course. Surely, they
were perplexed. They had started twice in ways
that seemed favorable to them, ways that seemed
best under the circumstances, ways they supposed
each time to be God’s way, but God said “No.” He
gave them no other instructions. They were left
almost in bewilderment. Then they turned
backward to Troas. They supposed that they were
going back, but the event proved that they were
on their way to the place to which God was
sending them, for when they had come down to
Troas, God showed Paul his will definitely in a
vision. Then they knew what they were doing.
Troas was a city on the seashore, a port from
which vessels sailed over the very course that
they must go in order to reach Macedonia. So
God’s two “no’s” turned them, without their
knowing it, into the very course that he
intended they should take. They went on that
course without knowing that they were upon God’s
chosen course going toward the destination that
he had chosen for them
There is a great lesson for us in
this experience of Paul and his company. If we
are left in perplexity, if God says, “No,” when
we think we are sure we are on the right way, we
may have some disturbing experiences. For the
time being we may have to strike out blindly, as
it were, without any definite knowledge of what
is before us, or of what are God’s plans. At
such times we may cry out, “Oh, if I knew what
to do---If I only knew.” Sometimes we must wait
at “Troas,” and, perhaps, wait till the ship
that we thought would take us, has sailed away,
and still we are left to question and to wonder.
But presently, in God’s own time, the “man of
Macedonia” calls to us and we learn God’s
will---learn it in plenty of time to work out
God’s purpose.
God’s “no” is not always the same,
nor does it always come in the same way.
Sometimes it is a mere consciousness that God
will not have us to do what we had planned, or
what we had thought to do, or even what we had
supposed it to be his will that we do. We should
not go contrary to these inner warnings of the
Spirit. It may seem better to go ahead, and
stopping where we are, may leave us in the
greatest uncertainty for the time, but when God
says, “No” in our spirit, we should heed it.
Sometimes he says, “No,” by placing an obstacle
in the way, which effectually bars our progress.
Sometimes he lets things happen that seem to
destroy all our expectations, and bring our
plans in ruin at our feet. Sometimes it seems
that the very worst possible thing has happened.
Never mind, perhaps it is only God’s “no” that
he says, in order to turn you into the way that
he has chosen. At any rate, you can go to
“Troas” and wait there until directions come.
When obstacles arise in our way, we
must carefully discriminate between those things
which are difficulties to be overcome and those
things which are intended to divert us into
another course. Many things are obstacles, which
God cannot take out of the way, but which must
be overcome by our own effort, assisted by his
grace and power. So we must not be too hasty in
concluding that a mere obstacle in the way is
God’s effort to change our course. It may be; it
may not be. But it behooves us to find out
definitely, for if we turn back from that which
is a mere obstacle, we shall be turned out of
the way of God’s will. If we fight through and
overcome the obstacle that God has meant to
change our course, we shall be going the wrong
course. We must learn the meaning of God’s
providences, and not be in too big a hurry to
decide. When uncertainty exists, there should be
the most careful consideration before
determining the future course. After Paul had
his vision at Troas there was doubtless a
consultation as to what it meant. The words
“assuredly gathering” in verse ten literally
mean “laying things together.” They evidently
discussed the question carefully from every
angle, took into consideration all the facts,
and then when they had done this, they were all
agreed upon what was God’s will.
Obstacles, instead of being
hindrances, may sometimes be helps. “If my
supreme will is to do God’s will; then, nothing,
which is his will and comes to me because it is,
can be a hindrance. A Christian man whose path
is simple obedience to the will of God can never
be turned from that path by whatsoever
hindrances may affect his outward life.” Here is
the secret of turning hindrances into helps;
that is, that our supreme will shall be to do
God’s will.
God sometimes leads his people
through human instrumentality. God, “that led
them by the right hand of Moses with his
glorious arm” (Isa. 63:12). God was their
leader, but he used Moses as the human
instrumentality. The Psalmist said, “Thou
leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of
Moses” (Psa. 77:20). The means, by which he made
Moses capable of leading his people is told in
Isa 63:11: “Then he remembered the days of old,
Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that
brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd
of his flock? Where is he that put his Holy
Spirit within him?” It was the Holy Spirit in
Moses that made him a capable leader. So God
puts his Holy Spirit in men nowadays, and
teaches them the will of God, so that they can
instruct others.
He who is too self-willed, or who
reposes so much confidence in himself that he
cannot be instructed by others, even by those
who are older and more experienced, cannot be
led. Such a person many times falls into serious
errors, and suffers severely for his temerity.
The humble are glad to be instructed. Sometimes
people ask advice of those who are capable of
giving them good advice, then go and ask the
advice of someone else whom they know to be no
wiser than themselves, and then often follow the
advice of the less wise person, to their own
hurt. God has made some wise with the wisdom
that cometh down from above, and they give good
counsel. We should not follow advice, blindly,
but we should not treat it lightly when it comes
from one who lives close to God. It is never
sage to disregard, without consideration, the
warnings of holy people.
Sometimes God leads us into the
wilderness, as he led Jesus, of whom we read,
“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned
from Jordon, and was led by the Spirit in the
wilderness” (Luke 4:1). He was led away from the
crowd, where it seemed his work lay; away from
the land of usefulness, or seeming usefulness;
away from human habitation, away out in the
wilderness. He was led away from human counsel
and sympathy, into a strange land where all was
new and life seemed barren. If our Lord was thus
led into the wilderness, we need not be
surprised if we have a similar experience. Under
such conditions may souls have come to the
conclusion that they have strayed away from God,
that God has forsaken them, and that they are in
a place where his will is not being done in
them. Jesus might have concluded thus too, but
the Word tells us that he was “led by the Spirit
into the wilderness.” He did not go there of
himself---he went in obedience to God. You and I
may find ourselves in the wilderness without
knowing God has led us there, but if our trust
is in him, though we stay there forty days, and
no angels come to minister unto us, let us not
suppose that God has forsaken us, or that we are
outside his will.
Jesus was let into the wilderness for
a definite purpose. We read, “Then was Jesus led
up of the spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted of the devil” (Matt. 4:1). Luke tells us
that he was tempted forty days. What these
temptations were, we do not know. We are told
only of the ones that occurred at the end of the
forty days. But this we do know, that when Jesus
came forth from the wilderness and mingled with
men again, he was prepared for his mission. He
was ready to do the works of God. He “suffered
being tempted” (see Heb. 2:18). It was not a
mere holiday excursion, upon which he went into
the wilderness. The spirit led him there for
serious business. Many times nothing but a
wilderness experience will develop in men and
women, that moral fiber and that courage and
fidelity to the truth, and give that wisdom and
understanding of God and of his purpose, that
will prepare them for their life-work.
Then, too, it is sometimes necessary,
if we should get too self-confident, too
self-reliant, too sure of ourselves, or if we
should grow careless, or lose the keen edge from
our zeal, that we be led into the wilderness,
there to suffer and to be tempted until we have
regained what has been lost and have been
prepared to go back and take up our duties again
and do them better than before. Or, it may be
that there is some experience ahead of us for
which we are not yet strong enough. It may be
that there will be praise from men, prosperity,
difficulty, or suffering for which we are not
prepared and which might be disastrous to us if
it came before we had a proper preparation for
it. So God leads us into the wilderness, and
there we suffer until he has wrought in us that
preparation which he sees is necessary in order
to carry us through our difficulties and make us
equal to the situation that confronts us. So if
into the wilderness we must go, let us go
trusting in God, not supposing ourselves to be
rejected, nor condemning ourselves, but let us
go patiently, as doing God’s will, for when we
come forth from the wilderness, it will be to
work the works of God.
Life has many different experiences
for us. Sometimes we must go into the wilderness
of uncertainty, and sometimes to the desert,
where our lives seem barren Sometimes we are
permitted to go up to a lofty height of
spiritual exaltation, there to have things
transfigured before us and spread out like a
great panorama at our feet. We behold wonderful
things in God’s law, and in God’s purpose and
workings. Again we must go down into the valley
of humiliation or suffering, but when our shame
is gone, and we are humbled, and satisfied to be
humbled, or when the sobs are stifled and the
soul comes out into quietness and submission,
then God comes down like the dew. All these and
many other experiences may come into a single
life, but they all work out God’s purpose and
help to mold us in his image and prepare us for
his service.
Sometimes we wait too long for
guidance before acting. It is often necessary to
start in some direction when only a step is
clear before us, but when we take that step,
further guidance will be given. Taking that one
step which we see, when all is dark beyond it,
is a test of our loyal obedience. Having met
this test, we have prepared ourselves to be led
farther. We must not wait until we see the end
from the beginning. One of the secrets of being
led is not to require that everything shall be
explained in advance. We may draw a very good
lesson for ourselves from what Abraham’s servant
said, “I, being in the way, the Lord led me”
(Gen. 24:27). Sometimes we have to start out
upon a way that leads we know not where, but if
we are in the way and obedient in the way, the
Lord will lead us to the desired destination.
So, let us be content to go as far as we can
see, expecting that when we arrive there,
further directions will be given us.
Sometimes people can learn only
through their mistakes, or can learn better
through their mistakes than through any other
method. So God lets us make our mistakes, if we
will be led in no other way, or can be led in on
other way, just as a parent when he sees his
child’s course is unwise sometimes lets the
child do as it thinks best, saying of the child,
“Let him go ahead, he will find out”; that is,
his error will teach him---he will be convinced
when he learns by experience. So, if we make
mistakes, let us be taught by those mistakes.
Let us not be crushed by them, nor prevented
from making further effort, but let us learn
through them, and be more easily led the next
time.
The way in which God led Israel from
Egypt to Canaan, and their experiences on that
way, teach us many useful lessons. There was a
short, easy way, between the two countries---the
regular caravan route. It was a way by which
they might have readily gone, with very little
suffering or inconvenience, but God did not
choose this way for Israel, and he tells us why.
“And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the
people go, that God led them not through the way
of the land of the Philistines, although that
was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the
people repent when they see war, and they return
to Egypt” (Exod. 13: 17). He saw that if they
went on the easy way, by which their father
Jacob had come from Canaan into Egypt, when they
faced the situation they must face in conquering
Canaan, they would be discouraged and would turn
about and flee back into bondage again. So we
read, “But God led the people about, through the
way of the wilderness of the Red sea (vs. 18).
He led them through this desert, and opened the
sea before them, thus placing an obstacle behind
them, the consideration of which would make them
hesitate to turn back. Just so, God must lead
you and me sometimes in a path of difficulty. He
must confront us by our Read Sea; then make a
way through it, in order to make sure that we
shall continue on our way and not turn back.
God then led them up to the borders
of the land at Kades-Barnea, but here their
faith failed and they refused to go forward.
They were affrighted at the story told them by
the ten spies. When they disbelieved God and
hardened their hearts against him, when they
would not listen to his promise of proffered
aid, nor to the counsel of Joshua and Caleb, God
turned them back into the wilderness and sent
them by a roundabout way through the desert of
the Sinaitic Peninsula, a long, hard journey of
forty years, before they reached the Promised
Land. His purpose in this is thus related: “And
thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord
thy God led thee these forty years in the
wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee,
to know what was in thine heart, whether thou
wouldst keep his commandments, or no. And he
humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and
fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not,
neither did thy fathers know; that he might make
thee know that man doth not live by bread only,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of the Lord doth man live” (Deut. 8:2, 3).
They had to have this hard experience, in order
to teach them obedience, and to teach them to
humble their hearts before the Lord and do
without murmuring what he commanded them to do.
So, disobedience and murmuring may cause you and
me to have our journey through the wilderness.
We may hunger and thirst, or we may get footsore
and weary before the end of our way is reached,
but if the journey teaches us submission to God
and makes us to know him as he is, it will not
have been in vain, but will have been a blessing
to us, even as this long desert journey was to
Israel.
In whatsoever test may come, we have
the assurance of God’s guidance. He says, “I
will lead them in paths that they have not
known: I will make darkness light before them,
and crooked thing straight. These things will I
do unto them, and not forsake them” (Isa.
42:16). But God often requires faith on our
part. If we feel and believe that we are not
being guided, we bring ourselves into a
condition that renders it very difficult for God
to guide us. When we rely upon him for guidance,
when we look up into his face and say, “Thou
wilt guide me in all my ways,” and the trust him
to do it, we shall be guided, whether we are
conscious of that guidance or not, for with his
voice and his eye and his hand he will lead us
in his way, in paths of peace and righteousness
for his name’s
sake.
