In the initial post on God’s guidance, we argued that we can be sure of God’s leading in our lives. Besides the many places in Scripture that teach us to look for His direction, we can add that the entirety of Scripture would lead us to believe that God will guide us.  God is our Father; we are His sons and daughters by adoption. If a good father directs His children, how much more can we look to our Heavenly Father to lead us and guide us in the way we should go? “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” God isn’t moving the football, concealing His will, or being tricksy or coy with us. Since God wants His children to do His will, we can be sure that God will guide us and not withhold the information we need like a catty secretary.

We know this also because God’s Holy Spirit indwells us, and a vital part of His ministry includes teaching and instructing us.

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (I John 2:27)

The Bible doesn’t teach us to look for the same method or means of guidance as we see men in the early church receiving. Remember that the Holy Spirit worked more overtly and sensationally then. Without the entire canon of Scripture, God allowed men to walk by sight. 

In our day, God expects us to live by faith, looking to His Word more than we look for signs or sensations. So, we don’t look for God to speak to us now the way He spoke to the men of that day. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look for God to guide us at all.

The book of Acts would lead us to believe that the Holy Spirit will guide us today, just as He led men of that day.

As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. (Acts 13:2)

For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; (Acts 15:8)

Consider this from J.I. Packer in Knowing God:

God aims to display His glory in and through us, and this is His ultimate purpose for us. So, we have many strong reasons to seek guidance from the Lord. God seeks His glory in our lives, and He is glorified in us only when we obey His will. It follows that, as a means to His own end, He must be ready to teach us His way, so that we may walk in it. (Packer, 212)

The problem, as I argued in the first post, is not that we doubt God will guide us. The problem is that we are afraid we might miss His guidance, that we might draw the wrong conclusion, and so miss out on His perfect will. We are sorely tempted to look for some external sign or indication of God’s will, what I have referred to as a “special whisper” from God that tells me what God wants me to do.

When I wrote about this previously as a fault among Independent Baptists, I was genuinely surprised at the number of people who claimed they had never heard a preacher talk this way. In my experience, it is one of the most common things you will hear from a Baptist pulpit – God told me to do this, to say that, to preach this. When describing our decision-making process, we often talk as if God spoke to me directly, told me what to think or do. It might be the most common way we walk by sight and not by faith. We want some tangible reassurance that God is guiding us, and we look for a token when we should simply rest in His promise.

Proverbs 3:5-6 might be the plainest passage in all Scripture assuring us of God’s guidance. The proverb gives us a command with a promise which we can summarize this way: “Trust the Lord, and He will direct your paths.” But an in-depth look at this passage might help reassure us. 

Notice how this proverb teaches against the conventional wisdom of looking for a special whisper. 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

The proverb gives a two-fold promise: Trust in the Lord, acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He shall direct thy paths. Inserted between these two commands is a prohibition: lean not unto thine own understanding. The seventh verse expands on these commands.

Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Altogether, this passage uses six ways to say “trust the Lord:”

1. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.
2. Lean not unto thine own understanding.
3. In all thy ways acknowledge him.
4. Be not wise in thine own eyes.
5. Fear the Lord.
6. Depart from evil.

God doesn’t give us six steps towards trusting the Lord with all our hearts. Instead, He provides six different ways of saying the same thing. We might consider this a sort of “snapshot” from six different camera angles of what it looks like to trust in the Lord with all your heart. Here are six perspectives on one grand duty. 

First, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. That is, rely on Him, depend on Him, count on Him, and have complete confidence in Him. Believe that He is able and willing to do what He says He will do. Believe that He has my best interest in mind. 

“Trust in the Lord” implies that we have completely surrendered ourselves to God’s will. But I have to be clear about this statement because we often use it very narrowly to mean that we have surrendered our future to the Lord. We have surrendered to the Lord in the ultimate, but in reality, we haven’t surrendered to the Lord in the immediate. We haven’t surrendered to the Lord in the present. 

When I say that we have completely surrendered ourselves to God’s will, I mean that we place our lives in His hands day-by-day and are prepared to accept whatever He chooses to do with us (or to us). “Trust in the Lord” means that we live in total submission to God’s will, especially that part of His will revealed in His Word. It means I believe He will always do what is best for me. Trust in the Lord implies total satisfaction – contentment – with everything God sends my way.

But it implies more than that. Warren Wiersbe said that “trust” means “to lie helpless, facedown.” It brings to mind the defeated soldier yielding himself to the conquering general. 

God calls us to trust him with all our hearts. Two things we should notice: First, Solomon speaks very directly to his son, which indicates that this is more than a general statement for Christians. Solomon gives an imperative command for the individual. Second, Solomon teaches his son to trust the Lord with his heart: the whole inner man, including his will, his desires, his affections, his innermost self. This requires sincere trust — a faith unfeigned. It calls for complete confidence, with all thine heart (no half commitment).

The second way to say “trust in the Lord with all thine heart” is in the verse’s second part: “Lean not unto thine own understanding.” The book of Proverbs relies on parallelism, and the second phrase of this proverb gives us the photo negative of trusting in the Lord. When you lean to your own understanding, you are not trusting the Lord.  

“Lean” gives a good picture of what a man does when he relies on his own understanding. Of course, the point is not that we shouldn’t use our understanding, only that we shouldn’t depend on it. And one way we depend on our own understanding is by looking for some kind of tangible indication of God’s leading. When we consider how feeble our understanding is (Matthew Henry compared it to a broken reed), common sense itself should teach us not to lean on it or rely on it. But God’s instruction in this proverb is even more authoritative than what makes sense to us. Whether it seems logical or not, God forbids us to lean on our own understanding. When we do, we aren’t trusting in the Lord.

The third way of saying “trust in the Lord with all your heart” comes in the 6th verse: “In all thy ways acknowledge him.” We acknowledge Him when we acknowledge His Lordship. Submit all plans to Him, ask Him to overrule those plans according to His will, and actively seek God’s direction in everything. We should do this even when the answer looks pretty apparent to us.

When God answers our prayers and blesses us, we must acknowledge His providence, thanking Him, crediting Him with our successes. We must acknowledge His sovereignty – the uncomfortable side of providence. When we meet with failure and find that God has directed us through troubled waters, we must acknowledge Him with submission, believing that His way is perfect.

The word “acknowledge” means that we know Him, that we admit that we know Him and that we act like it matters that we know Him. Don’t avert your gaze, avoiding eye contact with Him. In all your ways, God wants us to look to Him so we can know His leading. Look to him the way a great horse looks to his rider, chomping at the bit, pawing at the ground, quivering all over, anxious to do his rider’s bidding.

You might notice that we can obey all of this without receiving any token indicating God’s specific will for us. God promises, “He shall direct thy paths.” In fact, God teaches us not to look for tangible evidence of His guidance. Trust Him to guide you without looking to your own understanding. 

Trying to read the signs can be a very confusing thing. It is much better to look at the situation, consider the options, count the cost, commit the decision to the Lord, trust Him to guide you, and then make the best decision available. You can be sure that God’s promise stands. He shall direct thy paths.