God As Our Leader & Guide, Part 1
Over the past few months I have been thinking and praying quite a bit about how I can grow in allowing God to be my leader and my guide.
There are some powerful challenges in the scriptures beginning far back in God’s great story with his people. Here are a few of those. As you read, notice that sometimes the guidance is corporate and sometimes it is individual.
Genesis 12:1-3 – personal guidance that becomes a corporate covenant promise
Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Exodus 40:34-38 – corporate guidance from slavery to a new land
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.
Psalm 23:1-6 – personal experience of guidance even in dangerous parts of life
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. The LORD makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. The LORD leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow (pursue) me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
PROVERBS 3:5-8 – the way to enter into the promise of a prepared road ahead
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge the LORD, and the LORD will make straight (prepare ahead of you) your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body.
I plan to continue exploring this challenge of God as our leader and guide in the weeks ahead—both in my daily living and in this blog. For today, let’s reflect on a question: What if we took more seriously, day by day and hour by hour, that God is not just willing to be with us (a wonderful promise), but even willing to lead and direct us by preparing the road of life out ahead of us so that we can better walk in it?
Please do not hear me wrong. I am not expecting that this will suddenly lead to a life that is always easy. The person who did this best was led to die on a cross. What I am expecting is that this is the best way to enter more fully into a life that is even more powerful than all of the death that fills our world and our lives. Can I allow God to “thin the veil” that separates heaven and earth so that the prayer Jesus teaches us to pray can be answered more often with a “yes?” “Your will be done on earth as it is in the heavens.” What a request! I need a lot of guidance for that to more often be answered with “yes!” How about you?
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As always, if you have any questions or thoughts about this post, or if there is another topic you’d like me to explore in a future post, please leave a comment. I always enjoy your questions and thoughts.