Life is compared to a vapor or a mist in God's word (James 4:14). In that very passage it speaks of those who boast of there plans without seeking God's guidance and are guilty of presumption in light of God's sovereignty. This was a crucial study in my journey. As I write this little intro Lauren Daigle is singing "Trust in You". This is an important thing to remember when looking for guidance - patience and trust.
"When You don't move the mountains I'm needing You to
move
When You don't part the waters I wish I could walk through
When You don't give the answers as I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!
You are my strength and comfort
You are my steady hand
You are my firm foundation; the rock on which I stand
Your ways are always higher
Your plans are always good
There's not a place where I'll go, You've not already stood"
When You don't part the waters I wish I could walk through
When You don't give the answers as I cry out to You
I will trust, I will trust, I will trust in You!
You are my strength and comfort
You are my steady hand
You are my firm foundation; the rock on which I stand
Your ways are always higher
Your plans are always good
There's not a place where I'll go, You've not already stood"
from the song Trust in You by Lauren Daigle
September 13, 2015
Worship: Sing For Jesus by Fernando Ortega
Come and see, look on this
mystery
The Lord of the universe, nailed to a tree
Christ our God, spilling His Holy blood
Bowing in anguish, His sacred head
The Lord of the universe, nailed to a tree
Christ our God, spilling His Holy blood
Bowing in anguish, His sacred head
Sing to Jesus, Lord of our
shame
Lord of our sinful hearts, He is our great redeemer
Sing to Jesus, honor His name
Sing of His faithfulness, pouring His life out unto death
Lord of our sinful hearts, He is our great redeemer
Sing to Jesus, honor His name
Sing of His faithfulness, pouring His life out unto death
Come you weary and He will
give you rest
Come you who mourn, lay on His breast
Christ who died, risen in Paradise
Giver of mercy, Giver of life
Come you who mourn, lay on His breast
Christ who died, risen in Paradise
Giver of mercy, Giver of life
Sing to Jesus this is the
throne
Now and forever He is the King of Heaven
Sing to Jesus, we are His own
Now and forever sing for the love our God has shown
Now and forever He is the King of Heaven
Sing to Jesus, we are His own
Now and forever sing for the love our God has shown
Sing to Jesus, Lord of our
shame
Lord of our sinful hearts
He is our great redeemer
Sing to Jesus, honor His name
Lord of our sinful hearts
He is our great redeemer
Sing to Jesus, honor His name
Sing to Jesus this is the
throne
Now and forever He is the King of Heaven
Sing to Jesus, we are His own
Now and forever sing for the love our God has shown
Now and forever He is the King of Heaven
Sing to Jesus, we are His own
Now and forever sing for the love our God has shown
Witness:
The up and coming week is going to be full. I will need the green
pastures and those quiet, restful waters. The annual district meeting for the
company I work for, going to the movies to see War Room then dinner with my
mom, fasting on Tuesday for a brother who is going to speak on Thursday,
meeting on Wednesday with two brothers for dinner and fellowship, Thursday the
district picnic and Band of Brothers.
Saturday night the satanic attack reared its ugly head again. A
question asked of me designed by the Devil to upset and discourage me and cause
doubt in my mind. However, God my Shepherd, wielded His blessed rod and warded
off the lion who sought to devour me (1 Peter 5:8) and by His Word He fed and
encouraged me (Psalm 23:2-3) from the prophet Isaiah:
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be
afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my
salvation.” Isaiah 12:2 ESV
WORD:
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. A Psalm of David. KJV |
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4Even though I walk
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my
enemies.
You anoint my head with
oil;
my cup overflows.
6Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord
forever.
|
I left off talking about the leading and guiding of God. I said
these two words were different but complimentary. Perhaps that is too strong of
a statement for often we use these words synonymously. However, it is possible
to distinguish between the two else praying “lead and guide us” would be
redundant and superfluous.
When we say “lead” we are confessing that we are followers who
don’t know the way to go. When want to go somewhere and we don’t know how to
get there, we will say to someone who is driving to the same destination: “You
lead and we will follow you”. The word “lead” implies a leader. One who is in
charge and knows where they are going and it would be foolish not to follow them.
One must follow closely. Let something get in-between you and the leader and
you can soon lose sight of them and get lost. This is what happens when we let
things come between us and our Shepherd Leader. The wonderful thing is that the
good shepherd always seeks out His lost sheep. The leader and the follower on a
trip may lose each other and we may lose sight of our Shepherd Leader but He
never loses sight of us. He always knows where we are!
Now sometimes when we go on a trip and we don’t know how to get
there; we may ask someone to come with us who does. That person is there to “guide” us to our
destination. As our guide they instruct us on how to get there. Guidance
implies verbal instruction. One submits themselves to the guidance of the
guide. One can still get lost if they don’t pay attention to the guide, or they
think they know better than the guide, or they misunderstand the guide. I don’t
think I have to belabor the point I’m making here, as Allister Begg often says
in his sermons: “you are intelligent people and can figure it out for
yourselves”.
How does our Shepherd lead and guide us? We would wish He was
visually out in front of us leading and guiding us in life’s journey, but we
know that’s not the way He works. Needless to say (why do we say that when we
go ahead and say it anyway?); we know from scripture that we have the mind of
Christ, the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God itself for
that. Yes, God uses other believer’s and circumstances to guide us as well, but
these three must be seen as involved in the advice given by other believer’s
and circumstances. We should ask: “Is this what Jesus would do? Is the Holy
Spirit confirming this from God’s Word?” Just because circumstances seem to be
falling into place doesn’t make it right. If I leave late to get to work and I
start speeding down the road to get to work on time and all the lights are
turning green for me; I could think: “well God is surely blessing me so it must
be okay to break the speed limit”. However, we know from scripture (Romans
13:1-6) that breaking the speed limit, in such instances, would be a sin. The
Holy Spirit would remind us of this if we are listening with our spiritual
ears.
I believe I will finish with an article written by John Piper on
the way God Leads.
Four Ways God Leads His People
October 1, 1996
I see at least four methods that God uses to leads us in his will.
I put them in four "D’s" to help me remember them.
1) Decree: God sovereignly decrees
and designs circumstances so that we end up where he wants us to be even if we
don’t have any conscious part in getting there. For example, Paul and Silas
found themselves in jail, and the result was the salvation of the jailer and
his household (Acts 16:24-34). This was God’s plan, but not Paul’s. God does this
often—putting us in places that we did not plan or decide to be. This is the
leading of decree. It is unique above the other three leadings because it
includes them (since God’s decrees include all our decisions) and because it
happens infallibly (since “no purpose of [God’s] can be thwarted,” Job
42:2). The other three leadings
of God involve our being consciously led.
2) Direction: This is simply what God
does for us by giving us the commands and teachings of the Bible. They direct
us specifically what to do and what not to do. The Ten Commandments are one
example. Don’t steal. Don’t kill. Don’t lie. Or the Sermon on the Mount: Love
your enemies. Or the Epistles: Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Put on humility.
This is the leading of direction. God reveals his directions in the Bible.
3) Discernment: Most of the decisions we
make are not spelled out specifically in the Bible. Discernment is how we
follow God’s leading through the process of spiritually sensitive application
of biblical truth to the particularities of our situation. Romans
12:2 describes this: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of
God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” In this case God does
not declare a specific word about what to do. But his Spirit shapes the mind
and heart through the word and prayer so that we have inclinations toward what
would be most glorifying to him and helpful to others.
4) Declaration: This is the least common
means of God’s leading. He simply declares to us what we should do. For
example, according to Acts
8:26, “An angel of the Lord
spoke to Philip saying, ‘Arise and go south to the road that descends from
Jerusalem to Gaza.’” And according to Acts
8:29, “The Spirit said to
Philip, ‘Go up and join this chariot.’”
* * *
Notice three implications. First, we should always rest in the
decrees of God. They will always be for our good if we love him and
are called according to his purpose (Romans
8:28). This should remove worry
from our lives and put us at peace as we seek the "directed,"
"discerned" and "declared" leading of the Lord.
Second, there is the implication that God’s leading of decree may
bring about acts that are contrary to his leading of direction,
discernment, or declaration. In other words, he may direct,
“You shall not kill,” but decree the murderous death of his
Son (Acts
4:28). There are mysteries
here, but it is manifest in dozens of places in the Bible that God wills that
some things come to pass which he forbids in his word.
Finally, our confidence that we are tracking accurately with God
in each of these leadings increases as we move from the bottom to the top of
this list. Subjectively perceived declarations from God are the
least common and most easily abused of all the ways God leads. Our confidence
that we have known the will of God in this method will not be as great as in
the other methods which relate directly to God’s written word. Discerning what
to do on the basis of biblical principle when we do not have a specific command
for our exact decision will yield less confidence than when we have an
explicit direction in the Bible. And the truth that God is
sovereign and guides all things is the rock bottom confidence under all others.
It is a good place to rest.
Pastor John
John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of
Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of
Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than
50 books.
All the Way My Savior Leads Me
Author: Fanny J. Crosby
Composer: Robert Lowry
Tune: All the Way (Lowry)
Scripture: 1 Pet 2:25; Heb. 13:20; John 10:16
1 All the way my savior leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender
mercy,
Who thro’ life has been my
guide?
heav’nly peace divinest
comfort,
Here by faith in Him to
dwell!
For I know whate’er befall
me,
Jesus doeth all things
well;
For I know whate’er befall
me,
Jesus doeth all things
well;
2 All the way my Savior leads me;
Cheers each winding path I
tread,
Gives me grace for ev’ry
trial,
Feeds me with the living
bread;
Tho’ my weary steps may
falter,
and my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock
before me,
Lo! a spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock
before me,
Lo! a spring of joy I see;
3 All the way, my Savior leads me;
Oh, the fullness of His
love!
Perfect rest to me is
promised
In my Father’s house above:
When my spirit, clothed
immortal,
Wings its flight to realms
of day,
This my song thro’ endless
ages:
Jesus led me all the way;
This my song thro’ endless
ages:
Jesus led me all the way;
Amazing Grace
The song “Amazing Grace”
follows this hymn. I accidently included the title when I was copying and pasting, but I left it
there because I thought it was a perfect ending to the hymn and to this journal
entry!
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