Who leads you? Ever thought about that? Is it your boss or
your spouse? Good questions. The answer should be the Lord God, maker of heaven
and earth. The Bible has many verses speaking to this important question in
your life and mine.
The Psalms tell us who should lead. “Lead me to the rock that is
higher than I” (Psalm 61:2). This picture is on the cover of my book, Great is God’s Faithfulness. It gives me
a sense of God’s unmovable strength.
Psalm 139 is a Psalm revealing how God knew us and every one of our
thoughts before we were born. We are “fearfully and wonderfully made”
(v.14). Later in the Psalm David asks
God to, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious
thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting” (vv.23-24). This is a prayerful request of God that must
be offered in total trust that God will lead us on the right path, the one that
leads to heaven. I know that I have many thoughts that are anxious, and many
that are not good either.
“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead
me on level ground” (v. 10). Now this is a prayer request I should make
every day that God would teach me and lead me on level ground. I will have to
say that an EKG printout could have represented much of my life, radically
moving up and down. Oh yes, there might have been a pattern but not always very
good. Thanks be to God that today the graph is smoother, but not yet level. In
fact I think that in life there are many things that are not level. But God is
saying that He wants our response to be level.
Perhaps Psalm 23 is one of the best to dwell on. “The
Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures, He leads me beside the still waters, He restores my soul. He guides
me along paths of righteousness for His name's sake” (Psalm 23:1-3).
This Psalm tells us that we often go our own way, and God forces us to lie
down. He has to lead us because we will be led by wrong thoughts or people otherwise.
I love that He restores, revives, and refreshes our souls. We need to rest and
in Him alone as Psalm 62 reminds us. Then after we have our compass more level,
he will guide us along paths of righteousness or holiness for His name's sake.
These are the paths that conform to God’s moral will. What better place to be?
Proverbs 19:23 tells us, “The fear of the Lord leads to
life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.” The fear or
awesome respect of the Lord in whose hands are life and death is a good thing.
“The
Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold
of my life of whom shall I be afraid”(Psalm 27:1).
Yes He is the light of life and he wants that for us if we
follow His lead.
“He tends his flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms
and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads them that have young” (Isaiah
40:11). What a picture of God as
Shepherd. He is a gentle leader if we follow His lead as His sheep. Notice that
He carries us close to His heart. That
is where we are safe and find guidance for help in times of trouble.
“Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the
road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the
gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew
7:13). This is the Master’s teaching on life. Find the narrow gate. It is open
to all who will find it. It leads to life, life eternal. Later in Jesus'
teaching He says, “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew
15:13). Be led by the Lord, not people. You do have people in authority over
you, but let the Lord be your guide in all things.
The Gospel of John continues the theme of the Shepherd
guide. “The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd. The watchman opens the
gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name
and leads them out” (John 10:3). He speaks of thieves and robbers who
climb over the fence. We want to follow instead the Shepherd as we hear His
voice calling and leading. “But thanks be to God who always leads us in
triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance
of the knowledge of Him” (2 Corinthians 2:14). Our guide and leader
brings us out and through life victoriously, so let us spread the “Good News”
of the Gospel of truth and life in Him.
Perhaps you are thinking, I’ve got this. I know what I’m
doing, that’s why I’m in charge. Good luck, and that’s what it will be if you
make it out alive. Remember the Israelites who wandered? They never would have
made it to the Promised Land if God had not led them. “I brought you up out of Egypt,
and I led you forty years in the desert” (Amos 2:10). Why 40 years in
the wilderness? Because they wanted to go their own way. It was only a few days
journey, but their stiff-necked attitude made it a long journey during which an
entire generation died of selfishness.
Paul, in Romans 8:14 reminds us not to be led by our own
knowledge, but by the Spirit, “because those who are led by the Spirit of
God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit that makes you a slave
again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry Abba,
Father” (Romans 8:14). It is the
Spirit of God alongside and inside us that leads us through His word and
prayer, other godly people, and circumstances in His will. Be led by the Holy
Spirit alone.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.