Getting Guidance
Proverbs 3:5-6
7-28-02
Intro:
Have you ever been traveling through a metropolitan area—the traffic is heavy, there is road construction-always road construction, you are unfamiliar with the area. And suddenly there in front of you is a is a “Y” in the road with a sign right in the middle. To the right is Highway # so & so. To the left is a different highway. And you’re not sure which one takes you to your destination.
One thing you know—at 70 mph in heavy traffic you had better decide pretty fast which one to take.
I once came upon a car that had crashed into the concrete median in the center of the two alternatives.
I guess the person just could not decide which road to take. I can easily understand how that could happen.
Sometimes life feels like that. Hard decisions have to be made--Decisions about what college to attend, decisions about what job to pursue, what church to attend, what house to buy--“Do I sell my stock in a bear market or do I buy more at the lower price? How can I know that I am hearing the Lord and doing the right thing?”
Proverbs 3:5-6 is one of my “life scriptures”. By “life scriptures” I mean those verses that hold profound significance in our lives. They don’t just bless us for a specific moment or need; they are foundational to our walk with the Lord. They under gird the whole direction of our lives. They are so personal, so impacting, so defining as to who we are that we embrace them as our own in a very special way. Proverbs 3:5 & 6 was given to me when I was a teenager shortly after I received Christ and was called to the ministry. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.”
What an awesome promise from the Lord—a promise of guidance and protection—something we need everyday of our lives—guidance and wisdom for what to say, how to react to what others say to us, what to do in all kinds of situation. What to do when we come to a fork in the road in our lives and have to make a major decision? Perhaps there are decisions in your life that need to be made; perhaps there is a certain ambiguity as which way to go. Those are times we especially need to know how to get guidance from the Lord. That’s what I want to talk about this morning: How to get guidance for your life?
First and most importantly
I. Examine the Motive of your heart! Why do I want to go this way? Why do I want to go that way?
Why is more important than what, more important than how or when or where.
Why reveals what’s going on inside me and that’s more important to God than what’s going on the outside. The greatest mistakes I have made in life have been made when my heart was pursuing the wrong thing. Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it come the issues of life.”
If I can get my heart right, God can protect me in the rest of the process.
I remember a time when I was talking to a large church about a major change in my ministry.
It seemed like a good plan for everyone involved. But as I sought the Lord about it he quickened a part of Jeremiah 45:5 to me, “…and do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them…”
That word revealed the deepest secrets of my heart. Before God spoke that to me I did not realize how selfish my motives were in the situation. That was God’s answer for me—“No”.
How do we react when God says “no”? That’s a good indication of the condition of my heart, isn’t it?
If my heart is right, a “no” is just as good as a “yes”. We just want to know God’s will so we can do it.
Charles Finney used the term “indifference” not as a synonym to apathy but in reference to an attitude of heart that has died to self (self-glorification, self-exaltation, selfish gratification and ambition) and has only one goal in mind—the will of the Father. (1) When that kind of “indifference” rules our hearts we can find the will of God.
In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Those are not just words to parrot. They describe an attitude of heart out of which we are to pray—not trying to coerce God into conforming to our will but choosing to submit ourselves to His will and trusting Him to know what is best for us. Ps 25:8-10 “The Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who go astray; 9he will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to him. 10And when we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving-kindness and his truth.” TLB
Am I willing to humble myself and ask the Lord to search my heart and reveal to me what motives are going on inside? Sometimes that involves some serious soul searching, but what a protection it is for us.
Prov 11:3 “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”
NIV That says to me “integrity of heart” is essential for getting guidance from the Lord. Pure desire—right motives, honesty with myself, with the Lord, with others—is a key element in the guidance of my course in the right direction.
II. Apply the Principles of God’s Word to the situation!
Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my paths.”
By the word of the Lord we learn the ways of God—we learn the difference between right and wrong.
In many, many situations the principles taught in the Bible are my guidance.
I don’t need a vision—I don’t need a prophecy—I don’t even need to hear the voice of God about a matter—when His will has already been revealed in the word.
“Thou shalt not steal.” I don’t even have to pray about a situation that would involve dishonesty in my business dealings. The end never justifies the means. The end and the means need to be consistent with the already revealed will of God. Suppose I’m needing $ 20 to pay a bill. I’m praying, I’m trusting God to supply that $20 and wow—as I go through the check out counter at the grocery store the clerk accidentally gives me exactly $20 too much change. That $ 20 is not my $ 20 from the Lord. That $ 20 belongs to the grocery. I give that back and receive the money in some legitimate way.
Nobody has to pray about whether to commit adultery or not. God has already made His will abundantly clear in that matter. To pray for guidance about something like that is to take one step toward deception. Simply obey what God has revealed in His word.
Most decisions in life are not that clear cut. But there are all kinds of principles in the word that can bring counsel into our decisions. For example, Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? NKJV
From that one verse we can ask ourselves—Is it just for everyone concerned? Is it a win/win situation or do I win by causing someone else to lose? “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Put yourself in the other person’s place and ask yourself how you would feel about that decision.
Isa 32:8 “But a generous man devises generous things, And by generosity he shall stand.” NKJV
Is it generous on my part or is it greedy? Lot followed greed and wound up in Sodom. Abraham practiced generosity and became the father of many nations. Generosity and Greed stand at two different ends of the spectrum—and we usually know which one is behind our choice.
Sometimes we can’t proceed because there is unfinished business where we are. At Ai Israel suffered defeat. They prayed for guidance and God showed them what was obstructing their progress. Only after that was dealt with could they go forward.
The way of the Lord is always a way of mercy, humility, justice, loving our neighbors as ourselves,
fulfilling the Great Commission, setting our affections on things above, etc.
III. Listen to the Voice of the Lord in your spirit!
Isa 30:21 Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it,"
Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.” NKJV
It is the Holy Spirit Who guides us into all truth. It is the Holy Spirit Who makes application of God’s word to our particular circumstance and lets us know which way to go.
When you need wisdom from God I encourage you ask God to give you wisdom—and expect Him to give you answers. We are promised in James that if we will ask for wisdom God will graciously give it.
“You have not because you ask not.” (2) “Ask and you shall receive…” (3)
To hear that still, small voice of the Lord sometimes we must turn aside from the busyness of our daily activities and turn our spiritual ears toward heaven. God wants us to know His will so we can do it.
We don’t have to persuade Him to speak. He is speaking. We simply need to get quiet enough, long enough to hear what He’s saying. “He that has an ear, let him hear…” If you’re a child of God you have a spiritual ear—you simply need to turn aside from all the distractions of life and hear what God has to say.
When we talk about the subjective, intuitive guidance of the Lord in our spirit there are two dangerous extremes to avoid. One extreme says God is no longer speaking to people in a personal way so you just have to figure it out for yourselves as best you can. Most of us here today know better than that. Once God has spoken to your heart you know that He can speak in that way.
The other extreme that we are perhaps a little more prone toward is to spiritualize everything and ascribe our own thoughts –our own desires-our own emotions as the voice of the Lord.
How can I distinguish my thoughts and my emotions from what the Spirit is speaking in my heart?
By testing that voice with other sources of guidance. We’ve already talked about the inspired word of God—a more sure word of prophesy. There is also godly counsel within the Body of Christ. Humility would acknowledge that we need one another to help us discern what God is saying.
Prov 15:22 “Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established.” NKJV
How I have had to use that verse during this building program. Without the counsel of people who know much, much more than I about construction I would be in big, big trouble. Someone might ask,
“Pastor, why don’t you just ask the Lord what to do?’ I continually ask for wisdom in that way. Sometimes He speaks directly to my heart and I get insight supernaturally beyond my own ability.
But in conjunction with that He gives me good counsel from others. That too is a gift from God and guidance for me. I thank God for all of you whom God has gifted with special skills and abilities for the construction and remodeling of our facility—for the financial planning—for the prayer support.
Hearing God is something we do in community, not in isolation. Isolation can quickly lead us into spiritual pride—and that leads to deception—then destruction.
Another source of guidance is God-given authority. Can I trust the wisdom of God in His choices of who He has placed in authority over me? If I’m thinking they might not tell me what I want to hear, I had better go back to step I and take a look at the motives of my heart.
We are a prophetic people because the Spirit of God dwells in us. Prophecy is a part of guidance. But it is only a part, not the whole. If we try to make it the whole and abandon our own responsibility to hear we will get into trouble. But we also need the prophetic voice to confirm or correct the subjective guidance we may perceive.
1 Thess 5:19-21 “Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise prophecies. 21Test all things; hold fast what is good.” NKJV
There is the balance in how we relate to the prophetic. We are not to despise prophecy—we are not to discount it as insignificant—we are not to quench the Spirit. But, on the other hand, we are not to swallow everything hook, line and sinker just because someone says “Thus says the Lord.”
Test all things including prophetic utterances. Does it line up with the scripture? Is it consistent with the nature of and ways of God? Is it consistent with the subjective leading of the Lord I sense in my own heart? If it is, then “…hold fast what is good.”
Listen to the voice of the Lord—whether it comes through godly counsel, prophetic utterance, or the still, small voice in your inner man.
IV. Cooperate with the Sovereignty of God!
Prov 16:9 “A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” NKJV
The choices we make have a profound influence on our lives. But God never, never relinquishes His sovereignty. He retains the right to ultimately direct our steps. He gifts us according to His will and calls into service as it pleases Him. The clay does not say to the Potter, “What are you doing?” (4)
When God directs our steps He is interested in not only getting us to our destination but in making us into who He has called us to be. The process is just as important as the destination. That’s why Joseph was sold into slavery, lied about, and thrown into prison on his way to the throne. The process prepared him for the destination. That’s why it took Abraham & Sarah so long to get Isaac. That’s why David was a fugitive before he was a king. God was making the man before He gave him his destiny.
It will be the same in your life and mine. We generally want to get there faster than we’re really ready to arrive. Our struggle is not so much with the destiny as the process God uses to get us there.
“Blessed are the flexible, for they will not get bent out of shape.”
“In all your ways acknowledge Him…” (5) Can you be content where you are? Can you wait on the Lord to make the changes that need to be made? Can you make your request known unto God and then trust His wisdom as to when and how/
It is one thing to insist upon the will of God once we know it—to not relinquish territory to the enemy—to make a stand of faith for what God desires. It is quite another to insist upon our own will.
Psalms 106:15 says Israel insisted upon meat in the wilderness—and God’s judgment on the matter was:
“He gave them their request but sent leanness to their soul.” There are some matters left best in the hands of an all-wise, loving God—to say “Lord, I would like to have this, but only in your way and in your timing.”
The sovereignty of God is often expressed in our circumstances. If I am a young mother with six small children at home, God is probably not calling me to be a traveling evangelist. If I am a father with children to provide for, God is probably not calling me to quite my job and go to school full time. He would need to intervene in my circumstances and provide finances so I could fulfill my responsibilities to my wife and children before I could do that.
F.B. Myer once said that three lights must line up before God’s will is clear.
(1) The inward impulse—what we call the subjective leading of the Lord—the voice of the Lord.
(2) The word of God—as revealed in scripture.
(3) The trend of the circumstances. (6)
Balaam encountered adverse circumstances in his efforts to curse Israel and gain personal esteem and wealth. The angel of the Lord stood in his path to resist him. His donkey had the sense to stop, but Balaam did not. (7)
Not all adverse circumstances are God telling us to stop and turn around. Sometimes the adversary is resisting our progress. But when we are right and God’s timing is right for us to proceed, the circumstances will have to yield to His sovereign will.
In your situation do those three lights line up? Do you hear subjectively God saying, “This is the way walk in it”? Does it line up with the principles revealed in God’s word? Do the circumstances yield an open door or has God for now closed the door?
Once those three elements line up one other thing is required.
V. Move Forward in Faith!
“Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
Israel came up to Kadesh Barnea. It was clearly the will of God for them to go in and take the land.
The timing was right. The opportunity was right there before them. But instead of stepping out and trusting God for the result, they drew back in unbelief. They failed to enter in because of unbelief. (8)
Moving into our destiny always requires faith! And faith requires action.
We seldom know God’s whole plan when we step out in obedience. We know the direction He wants us to go and we move in that direction one step at a time. “The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.” The Lord will show us enough to take a step. As we step out in obedience more revelation comes so we can take the next step. The person who waits until he has the whole plan before he steps out will seldom get anywhere.
Inactivity is not necessarily super-spirituality. Obedience is spirituality. A moving car is easier to guide than a parked car. A year ago God spoke to us as a congregation and told us to build the new facility.
Once we knew that, we proceeded toward the goal. We are still proceeding in that direction. But understand something—I don’t know how we are going to finish it. I feel the Lord has said we will.
Every time we receive an offering for the building fund, we receive it in faith believing that the Lord will provide what is needed. We are attempting something we can’t do without God. But that is almost always the way things get done.
Conclusion
What is God telling you to do?
Are you needing God’s guidance in your life?
He is here willing to give you direction.
James 1:4-5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” NKJV
In the context of all that has been said this morning—if you need direction would you just pause with me for a few minutes and let the Lord speak to your heart? Will you right now—with a commitment to obey with all your heart—ask God for wisdom in the decision you must make?
Let’s Pray.
Notes:
(1) Charles Finney’s Systematic Theology, Lecture 12, Attributes of Love, point #5
(2) See James 1:5 and James 4:2
(3) Matthew 7:7
(4) Romans 9
(5) Proverbs 3:6
(6) Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times, Paul Lee Tan, Assurance Publishers,Illustration # 1928
(7) Numbers 22. Balaam is an example of someone who violated the principles taught in this sermon and as a result was led astray.
(8) Hebrews 3 & 4
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
