Day 6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”   —PROVERBS 3:5-6

If we were to ask Christians what is it that they want most from God, I know many would respond by saying they desperately need guidance and direction in their lives. Every day we are bombarded with a multitude of decisions to be made – large and small – how can we know what are the right decisions to make?  How do we discern and follow the will of God for us personally?

There are multiple ways in which God guides people in Scripture, and there is no simple formula, probably because if there was, we would superimpose that formula on every situation we face and so avoid doing business directly with God Himself.

Everything in the Christian life grows out of our relationship with God. Some of us would prefer a spiritual GPS that leads us accurately, but is detached from a relationship with Him.

To be in the will of God we need to spend time with Him; time in the Scriptures, in prayer, in a sense of communion and dependence on Him, which is our constant disposition towards Him.  Then we realize a fundamental truth: It is not our job to get ourselves guided, but it is God’s responsibility to guide us. Here is our responsibility: ‘Acknowledge Him in all your ways’. That is simple enough. Then here is His promise: ‘He will direct your paths’. He does not have to explain His guidance. We simply need to trust Him for it.  

Sometimes we have to make decisions that require a lot of thought, but whether we can explain it or not, we do so with the knowledge that God is more concerned about putting us in the right place at the right time for the right purpose. Often we don’t see it until we look back with hindsight, and realize as Abraham’s servant said, “I being in the way, the Lord led me….” (Genesis 24:27).

PRAYER: Thank You, Lord, that you are active in our lives and that your desire is to lead and guide us along paths that are good, both personally and corporately. And thank You, Lord, that You love us so much as to remind us that You work in partnership with us, and that our part is to ‘in all our ways acknowledge You’ and then to trust You.