God’s guidance in daily living
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding: in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5)
Charles Blondin was a 19th century French acrobat famous for his tightrope act 48 meters above Niagara Falls on a rope which was over a 300 meters long! In 1860 a royal party from Britain saw Blondin perform on stilts while blindfolded, stopping halfway to cook an omellete and later eating it. Next he wheeled a wheelbarrow from one side to another and returned with a sack of potatoes. At the end of his performance, Blondin asked the Duke of Newcastle whether he could be sit in the wheelbarrow and be taken across the tightrope. The Duke humbly declined! Pat Robertson told this story.
What does it mean to ‘trust in the Lord with all your heart’? This means in your studies, work, family, personal life, in everything you do, you acknowledge that God is in control of you. If you think you know all the answers, if you have everything all figured out, then you are leaning on your own understanding. If you trust God, acknowledge Him in the way that you live, and do not lean on your overconfidence or past experience. Let Him guide you. The Bible is our rule book of faith and practice. If we know and understand the scriptures, we will be well on our way to having His guidance. He never guides His people contrary to the clear principles of His written Word.
Guidance also comes from a knowledge of God Himself. We need to know what pleases Him and what displeases Him. There is no substitute for walking with God, sharing with Him, and talking to Him daily. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1Cor 2:14). When you do that, you will experience His direction and His correction. You will come to know what His desire is. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10). This relationship develops over a long period of time, not instantaneously. Through constant use, your senses become sharpened so that you know good from evil. Spiritual maturity forms a basis for guidance.
Finally, to have His guidance, you need to be filled with His Spirit. The Bible says, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth. “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech” (Prov 8:13). There are many other ways that God can guide you. If your heart and life are centered on God, His Word, and His Holy Spirit, trust He will ‘push you safely across the Niagara falls on that tight rope’ – you can rest assured that He will direct your path to safety on earth and in eternity.
God bless you all.