How God Guides
In the first half of Joshua chapter one, God is giving charge to Joshua as he prepares to lead the nation of Israel
Joshua 1:10-11
Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan
I like Joshua. I’d like to be more like Joshua in my life. He believed God when He told him that it was time to go possess the land. He took action to do what the Lord told him to do. He didn’t ask the people he was about to lead into battle what they wanted to do; he simply told them that it was time. He told them to prepare because they were going in three days, and they were going whether they liked it or not.
I’d like to be a leader like that. I’d like to hear from the Lord and then act. I’d like to be able to tell those I am leading, with confidence, that “this is what the Lord has told me; therefore this is what we are going to do.” But Joshua heard from the Lord clearly, precisely, and loudly. Do we… can we… hear from God like Joshua heard from God?
That’s the problem isn’t it? If we heard from God like Joshua heard from God, it would be easy. Of course we’d believe, of course we’d act, of course we’d lead like Joshua. But God doesn’t talk to us like he talked to Joshua. He’s not as clear, He’s not as precise… right?
Selective Listening
Sorry to break it to you, but that’s just plain wrong. God does speak to us today in clear and precise ways; the problem is our tendency to listen selectively. We tend to block out God’s voice when it doesn’t conform to what we think we want or what we’d prefer to hear.
It’s funny how we’ll ask God to direct us by telling Him the direction we want to go. We’ll pray, “Lord, I’m lonely and I know you have the husband I am looking for already picked out. I know he is tall, dark, and handsome. I know he’s successful in business and good with kids. I am trusting You that his family is loving and kind and will accept me for who I am. I believe my husband will be a leader in the church, perfect and pure as the wind-driven snow. And I know this is what You want for me because this is the desire You have put in my heart. So please God, direct me to that perfect man.”
Then, after two and a half years of praying that prayer, you get frustrated with God because He is not leading you to your perfect man. Then, one day you meet Greg and wow…sparks fly! He meets all your criteria! But after four months of dating, you find out that Greg is tall because he’s got risers in his shoes, he’s dark because he spends a lot of time at the beach and very little at work, and he’s only handsome in the dark.
He may not be everything you are looking for, but you begin to pray about if he’s “the one.” You pray that prayer fervently for a few more months, after which, much to your dismay, you come to realize after a long weekend at his father’s fishing cabin, that he’s not much of a spiritual leader, he never wants kids and he can’t keep a job because of all the time he spends at the beach. So you pray more diligently: “Lord pleeeease tell me if Greg is the one.”
After a few more months of dating you decide to throw a party for his family and friends to meet your family and friends to see how they get along with each other. But afterwards your family’s response is clear… “Nice guy, but a bit strange… we don’t think he’s good for you.” Again, you cry out, “Lord, I’m begging You to tell me—is he the one?” You’ve now been dating for just shy of a decade and you are, in your mind, justifiably mad at God because He isn’t giving you clear direction on whether He wants you to spend the rest of your life with Greg or if He has someone different!
Meanwhile God is shaking His head in love because He told you very clearly in His Word to seek first the kingdom of God
God Speaks Through the Holy Spirit
In this story we see the four ways God uses to lead us and to speak to us. The primary way in which God gives us direction is by the Holy Spirit: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).
Do you remember the day you gave your life to Christ? Maybe you were in church, and at the end of the sermon the pastor asked the congregation if anyone would like to come forward and pray the prayer of salvation. Although you didn’t understand it at the time, something pushed you out of your seat. You were sure that this was what you needed to do and you couldn’t fight it any more. You had to walk forward. Or maybe, like me, you were reading a little booklet that someone gave you and on the last page of that booklet there was a prayer. For some unknown reason you couldn’t help but know that you had to pray that prayer.
Whatever your conversion experience, the pulling you felt to give your life to Christ was the Holy Spirit. We’ve all experienced the draw of the Spirit in other ways as well. For example, when you might be doing something that you shouldn’t be doing, and know you should stop. Or maybe you’re doing something good or helpful, and you’re encouraged. Or possibly one day you were encouraging another believer and a verse popped into your head that you didn’t know you knew… that’s the Holy Spirit! I’ve personally experienced it in larger ways as well; on my first date with my wife I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was “the one.” When my wife became pregnant with our first-born, I knew it before any test confirmed it. The Holy Spirit does lead us, and the way to hear Him more clearly is to develop a relationship with Him.
When I was in high school, my older brother Rob and I were on the wrestling team together. I am from a small town in rural Minnesota named Austin Albert Lea
How could I hear my brother in all that noise? I could hear him because I knew his voice. Over the preceding 13 years or so, I had developed a relationship with him. I had been hearing him as an infant, as a toddler, and as a young boy. I knew his voice and I trusted him. The same is true with the Holy Spirit. As you develop a relationship with Him you will learn to hear His voice, understand His direction, and discover that you can trust Him. Then when the time comes that the world is crashing in on you and you need guidance, you’ll hear His voice coaching you, encouraging you, and bringing to your remembrance all that you’ve been taught.
Listen for the Holy Spirit and do what He tells you to do. There won’t be any confusion when you truly hear His voice. In that obedience you will foster a relationship. You’ll learn over time that you can trust His voice. The more you hear, the louder it will be.
God Speaks Through Circumstances
God will also lead us through circumstance: He is the one who has the key of David. He opens doors, and no one can shut them; he shuts doors, and no one can open them (Revelation 3:7, NLT).
A few years ago, my wife and I were seeing some things happening in the organization I worked for—and we didn’t agree with them. We began praying about whether I should leave my job. I didn’t have another job lined up and I wasn’t looking, but we prayed for God to show us what He wanted us to do. I knew I had to speak up about what God was showing me, but I didn’t want to appear to be a malcontent or a dissenter. So I began praying that God would prompt my boss to ask me for my thoughts.
It wasn’t too long before my prayer was answered when my boss called me into his office to talk. I told him the truth about what I was seeing. He didn’t agree, but thought it was important that he tell the top guy in the organization what I said. A couple of hours later, that guy (my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss) called me to his office to talk. For two hours I told him the truth about what I was seeing. His defensive response to the problems I had witnessed didn’t do anything to sway my opinion to his point of view. I wasn’t fired, but it was clear that it was time for me to move on… so I resigned.
Was this God leading me? Absolutely! God showed me the problem, prompted me to speak, opened the door for me to speak, and then through that experience showed me it was time for me to go. The cool part for me was that in the process (whether my boss listened or not) God used me to shed light on a problem. Then the topper… He confirmed His direction by leading me to a new job that more than tripled my pay—and I got this job despite the fact that I was woefully under qualified for the position!
If you are seeking God in everything, He will open and shut doors that nobody else could open or shut.
God Speaks Through Others
Another way God chooses to lead and guide our everyday life is through others: And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2).
The question of why God uses us to lead His people has always intrigued me. He is perfect, all knowing, all powerful, and ever present, and I could come up with a thousand better ways for Him to lead His people other than through His people. It’s like Captain Kirk using a row boat to circumnavigate the earth when Scotty is available to beam him wherever he wants to go. I don’t understand why God uses us, but I’m certainly glad He does.
There are a few pastors that God uses in my life to help direct me. I draw insight from them into the Bible and learn from their experience. God also speaks through my wife. She is a constant source of grounding, a great sounding board who knows the Bible well and will tell me if I am off course. She will also encourage me when I am on course. But the best part about God using people to lead people is that He sometimes decides to speak through me to a brother or sister who needs to hear from Him.
One of the first times I can remember being used by God is tattooed permanently in my brain because it was a life-altering experience. I was attending a conference for singles (this, of course, was before I was married) when I met Preston (name changed to protect Greg’s identity). Preston was struggling that day because just the day before, he had lost his job. Losing a job is a big deal for everyone, but it was even more so for him because of something that had happened to him a few years prior. Late one night he was driving down a dark highway when out of nowhere a huge tree jumped out in front of his car! OK, maybe the fact that he was drunk caused his reaction time to be a bit slow, but that tree had no right to pull out right in front of him like that! The car he was driving put up a good fight, hitting the tree hard. But the tree won the battle and Preston sustained several severe head injuries.
After several reconstructive surgeries and some time behind bars, he was now faced with getting a job with a criminal background and major facial deformities. Preston had given his life to Christ in the hospital and was seeking for the Lord to guide him to a job where he could support his children and begin life afresh. The Lord came through for him in a major way and he got a job as a telephone sales person in a major company despite the fact that he was honest about his criminal record in his application. It was an answer to prayer!
A couple of months went by and he was doing great in his new job, his bosses were happy with his performance, and he was praising the Lord for his new-found success. Then it happened… on the morning of the day he was going to leave for the singles conference his boss called him into his office. Preston was told that he somehow fell threw the cracks and that it was against company policy to hire someone with a criminal background, so they had to let him go. This of course devastated Preston because he knew it was God’s will for him to have that job because of the incredible miracle that took place for him to get it.
Now here I am sitting across the table from him the day after he got this devastating news. He’s searching for meaning in this tragedy, and for some unknown reason he’s asking me what he should do. How is he going to find work again? What is God’s will for him? He’s back to square one trying to find a job with a record and a deformed face.
The Lord brought to my memory a section of Scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I recited those verses (that I didn’t know I knew) and told him that if you want to know the will of God, this is a good place to start.
I didn’t spend much time thinking about what was said that night and looking back, I truthfully didn’t think it was that inspiring of a conversation. But the next day, after the conference concluded and everyone was getting ready to go home, Preston approached me. With a tear in his eye, he gave me a big hug and thanked me for what I said. He told me that it was exactly what he needed to hear at the perfect time. Wow! An incredible surge went through my body at that time that changed my life… God can use me! From that day forward I knew my purpose in life was to be used by God as a vessel to direct His people.
God will use you to direct His people as well… if you allow Him to.
God Speaks Through His Word
The last way we’ll look at in terms of how God directs us is through the Word (the Bible): Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).
I purposely put this last because the Bible is the anchor for all the other ways God leads us. The Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance all that Jesus has taught us—and the primary way He teaches us is through the Bible. If you are not studying the Bible (in the light of its purpose; see chapter five) then logic would dictate that there is very little knowledge that the Holy Spirit can bring to your remembrance in a time of need. When circumstances arise that appear to be pushing us in one direction, it is important to line that direction up with the Word of God. And when we are seeking counsel from others we need to know that not every person gives good advice. The Bible is where we need to go to confirm or deny if the advice we are receiving is good.
The Bible is the revealed will of God, inspired by God and written down by man. It is the single greatest source that we can go to for confirming that we are hearing from the Holy Spirit, for determining whether our circumstance should guide us, and for deciding if the counsel you are receiving is actually from the Lord. Use it!
He Shall Direct Your Path
In Proverbs 3:5-6 we are told: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Hear this verse:
1. Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Trust Him! Trust Him with everything you have. He loves you and has your best interest in mind when He leads you. Believe that with every fiber of your being!
2. Lean not on your own understanding. Don’t try to figure God out by using your own understanding. His ways are higher than ours. He knows what He is doing.
3. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Acknowledge that He is in control. Praise Him for His faithfulness. Seek Him in everything.
4. And He shall direct your paths. Notice that it doesn’t say He might direct your path, or that sometimes He’ll direct your path… it says, “He shall direct your paths.” He promises it! He’ll come through and show you where to go and when to move. Trust Him!
2. Lean not on your own understanding. Don’t try to figure God out by using your own understanding. His ways are higher than ours. He knows what He is doing.
3. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Acknowledge that He is in control. Praise Him for His faithfulness. Seek Him in everything.
4. And He shall direct your paths. Notice that it doesn’t say He might direct your path, or that sometimes He’ll direct your path… it says, “He shall direct your paths.” He promises it! He’ll come through and show you where to go and when to move. Trust Him!
Joshua heard from the Lord, trusted His leading, and acted. We, too, have that ability to hear from God and act on His direction. We just need to be listening, have the faith that He will speak, and then be willing, like Joshua, to do what He asks of us.
