Trusting God and His Guidance

A blind man walking in a path hears a voice say, “The path is about to bend left.” Unsure wether to trust the voice, he continues straight, trusting his perception of the surface of the path. After a few more steps, he has not encountered a rough place and decides that he must still be on the right path. In reality, a fork in the path existed at the bend and he is now on a smaller branch of the roadway. Soon the path becomes rough and hilly. The blind man thinks to himself, “I was told this path would be smooth and lead to a place of security and joy!” He is angry at the map he was given, and the map maker. Never realizing that he left the path long ago.

Trusting God and His guidance is much like the blind man’s path. God gives us a basic map, but asks us to trust Him. As we journey along the path, He will give guidance and He expects us to listen to that guidance. Does He explain His directions with, “I am asking you to do this because…”. Not usually; in fact rarely. What He says is,”I love you. Do you trust me?” There are 3 major requirements to walking the path successfully.

1. You know how to hear his voice.
2. You are asking Him to guide.
3. You are determined to trust His voice.

These requirements are predicated on the environment of the journey. You see, we are blind. Though we may use other perceptions to try and understand what is going on, they can easily lead us to the wrong conclusion. We are prone to trust our understanding like the blind man trusts his feet perception of reality. Thus requirement 3.

The path is in a war zone! With others deliberately seeking to get you off the primary path. Daily they will tell us to trust our feelings, and our heart rather than His voice. We have to be actively seeking His guidance and resisting other voices. Thus requirement 2.

These voices will come to us, sounding like common sense and the “smart” way. We can’t just know about His voice from others. We can’t try to listen to His voice once in awhile. The daily skill of hearing from Him ensures that when the fog of war and the noise of combat rise, we can still hear His “still, small voice.”.

Lastly, we are arrogant enough to think that where we are right now is the path we are supposed to be on. When trouble comes, the first thing we should do is review our journal and the things that God has said to us in the past months and years. We may be farther off the path, having branched and branched again, than we even realize. Thankfully, He is ready to lead us right back to where we need to be.

Don’t foreswear “do overs”, they are proof that He is working in an area He cares about.

Don’t be dismayed by your own foolishness. He is wiser and will not condemn.

Don’t listen to shame, it will tempt you to stay committed to the wrong path.

Beware of contemporary counselors. Your peers are likely as confused and ignorant as you are. Seek older, much older, counselors.