"I WILL GIVE YOU GUIDANCE" ("BUT I WON'T DO IT FOR YOU")
Many years ago, the floor of our back porch needed replacing. Although I am neither a carpenter nor the son of a carpenter, I figured I could handle the job myself. I guessed it would take as much as the better part of a day to rip up the old floor and put down the new floor.
When the time came to commence working on the project, I had everything I needed. In fact, I had even more than I needed. In addition to the tools and supplies that the job called for, I had two "helpers." My "helpers" were a five year old boy and a seventy five year old man.
From a time management specialist’s point of view, the job of replacing the porch floor was something short of a great success. That is because the one day job wound up taking about four days. In all honesty, that did not matter, because we all had a great amount of fun doing the job together, even though it also called for a measure or two of patience from time to time.
Sometimes, we make the mistake of thinking that a given task is more important than the people who are participating in doing the task. That may actually be true in business, but not necessarily in other parts of life. It is almost certainly not true when it comes to God building His kingdom into the lives of His people. Then, the people are themselves the priority.
It is not unusual for Christians to be impatient with themselves, other Christians, and even God Himself in matters of God’s will being done. We live in a world of instant gratification, where with the click of a remote our TVs change stations and with the click of a mouse our computers take us all over the world wide web. So how come God or His people can’t move as fast?
Sometimes, we wish that God would simply reach down from heaven, and make things happen. We wish He would move us to the place, spiritually or physically, that we are supposed to be. Why can’t God be as instant and efficient as a TV remote control or an internet web browser?
Maybe the answer to our question is that God might want to say to us, "I will give you guidance, but I won’t do it for you." When we want God to change us or our circumstances instantly, what we are really asking Him to do is to live our lives for us. He won’t do that. We have to live our own lives. He will give us guidance, but He won’t do it for us.
Most of us have seen parents who seem to be living out their dream vicariously through their children’s lives. They are present at every baseball, soccer or football game. We can spot them a mile away. We also view them with disdain. We wish they would give their kids and everybody else a break and let their children live their own lives.
When God made people, the Bible says He made us in His image. Among other things, that means we are not robots that simply follow instructions, or animals that function almost only on instinct. He gave us the power of independent thought and the ability to make choices.
If God were to do what we sometimes want Him to do, and live our lives for us, it would violate His original plan for us. Besides that, we are the ones who need to learn how to live out our lives in accordance with God’s will and purposes, not Him. He already does that perfectly well.
"I will give you guidance, but I won’t do it for you." God provides people with all the guidance we need, primarily in three ways. The first way that God provided guidance to His people was through the Bible. Starting with the Ten Commandments, and expanding from there, God’s laws provide us with ample guidance for living successfully for ourselves, and pleasingly for Him.
God went to a lot of trouble to give us the Bible. He did it all out of love for us. The Bible tells us that we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
The Bible is not strictly a human work. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Another way that God gives His people guidance is through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, specifically the gift of prophecy, the gift of the words of knowledge and the gift of the words of wisdom. These are gifts that God promised long ago, and are intended for our benefit.
700 years before Jesus was born, God promised through the prophet Isaiah that whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "this is the way, walk in it." The Bible describes that voice as a still small voice or a gentle whisper.
Over 500 years before Jesus was born, the Holy Spirit impressed a similar message upon the prophet Jeremiah. "The day is coming," declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with My people. I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts." In each prophecy, it as though God is saying, "I will give you guidance, but I won’t do it for you."
It can be easy for Christians to err by embracing one form of God’s guidance to the exclusion of the other. Some Christians effectively use the Bible as a set of rules, almost in a wooden fashion. On the other side of the spectrum are Christians who function "spiritually," but have no real use for the Bible, as is demonstrated by their ignorance of it. Neither side gets it entirely right.
It is best for Christians to avoid embracing only one form of God’s guidance. A possibly good analogy might be to consider table salt. We all need some salt in our diets so that our bodies will function properly. Salt is the combination of sodium and chloride. Ingested separately, either one of these components can be harmful, but together they are a blessing.
The Bible tells us that the Law and prophecy are intended to lead us to Jesus Christ, who among other things is one of God’s ways to give us guidance. When we wonder what we should do in any given situation, we can always consider; what would Jesus do if He were me?
The Bible says that the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ; in Whom we should trust, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. In the Old Testament, Moses represents the Law of God, while Elijah is considered to represent the prophetic ministry. They appeared together once in the New Testament with Jesus and several of His followers.
About eight days after Jesus said this, He took Peter, John and James with Him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about His departure, which He was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is My Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him." When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.
Living out the life of faith is not always easy for us. Sometimes our impatience can erupt, and we might wonder why God isn’t more timely with us. That does not seem to be an area of concern as far as God is concerned. Consider, for example, how God poured out His blessing upon the people of Israel during the Exodus sojourn.
The Bible tells us that whenever Moses entered the LORD's presence to speak with Him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.
The trip out of Egypt to the Promised Land should have taken about eleven days. It took forty years. All that time, God blessed the people with His presence. God manifested His presence to Moses so powerfully that Moses’ face would literally shine with God’s glory.
In some cases it may take us four days to grow spiritually in some area while it takes others only one. However, chances are most of us will not best Israel’s "record" of an eleven day journey lasting forty years. Even if we do, God’s got so much time and patience that He isn’t about to simply do the growing for us. We have to live out our own lives before God. It really is as though God would say to each of us, "I will give you guidance, but I won’t do it for you."
When the time came to commence working on the project, I had everything I needed. In fact, I had even more than I needed. In addition to the tools and supplies that the job called for, I had two "helpers." My "helpers" were a five year old boy and a seventy five year old man.
From a time management specialist’s point of view, the job of replacing the porch floor was something short of a great success. That is because the one day job wound up taking about four days. In all honesty, that did not matter, because we all had a great amount of fun doing the job together, even though it also called for a measure or two of patience from time to time.
Sometimes, we make the mistake of thinking that a given task is more important than the people who are participating in doing the task. That may actually be true in business, but not necessarily in other parts of life. It is almost certainly not true when it comes to God building His kingdom into the lives of His people. Then, the people are themselves the priority.
It is not unusual for Christians to be impatient with themselves, other Christians, and even God Himself in matters of God’s will being done. We live in a world of instant gratification, where with the click of a remote our TVs change stations and with the click of a mouse our computers take us all over the world wide web. So how come God or His people can’t move as fast?
Sometimes, we wish that God would simply reach down from heaven, and make things happen. We wish He would move us to the place, spiritually or physically, that we are supposed to be. Why can’t God be as instant and efficient as a TV remote control or an internet web browser?
Maybe the answer to our question is that God might want to say to us, "I will give you guidance, but I won’t do it for you." When we want God to change us or our circumstances instantly, what we are really asking Him to do is to live our lives for us. He won’t do that. We have to live our own lives. He will give us guidance, but He won’t do it for us.
Most of us have seen parents who seem to be living out their dream vicariously through their children’s lives. They are present at every baseball, soccer or football game. We can spot them a mile away. We also view them with disdain. We wish they would give their kids and everybody else a break and let their children live their own lives.
When God made people, the Bible says He made us in His image. Among other things, that means we are not robots that simply follow instructions, or animals that function almost only on instinct. He gave us the power of independent thought and the ability to make choices.
If God were to do what we sometimes want Him to do, and live our lives for us, it would violate His original plan for us. Besides that, we are the ones who need to learn how to live out our lives in accordance with God’s will and purposes, not Him. He already does that perfectly well.
"I will give you guidance, but I won’t do it for you." God provides people with all the guidance we need, primarily in three ways. The first way that God provided guidance to His people was through the Bible. Starting with the Ten Commandments, and expanding from there, God’s laws provide us with ample guidance for living successfully for ourselves, and pleasingly for Him.
God went to a lot of trouble to give us the Bible. He did it all out of love for us. The Bible tells us that we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
The Bible is not strictly a human work. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Another way that God gives His people guidance is through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, specifically the gift of prophecy, the gift of the words of knowledge and the gift of the words of wisdom. These are gifts that God promised long ago, and are intended for our benefit.
700 years before Jesus was born, God promised through the prophet Isaiah that whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "this is the way, walk in it." The Bible describes that voice as a still small voice or a gentle whisper.
Over 500 years before Jesus was born, the Holy Spirit impressed a similar message upon the prophet Jeremiah. "The day is coming," declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with My people. I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts." In each prophecy, it as though God is saying, "I will give you guidance, but I won’t do it for you."
It can be easy for Christians to err by embracing one form of God’s guidance to the exclusion of the other. Some Christians effectively use the Bible as a set of rules, almost in a wooden fashion. On the other side of the spectrum are Christians who function "spiritually," but have no real use for the Bible, as is demonstrated by their ignorance of it. Neither side gets it entirely right.
It is best for Christians to avoid embracing only one form of God’s guidance. A possibly good analogy might be to consider table salt. We all need some salt in our diets so that our bodies will function properly. Salt is the combination of sodium and chloride. Ingested separately, either one of these components can be harmful, but together they are a blessing.
The Bible tells us that the Law and prophecy are intended to lead us to Jesus Christ, who among other things is one of God’s ways to give us guidance. When we wonder what we should do in any given situation, we can always consider; what would Jesus do if He were me?
The Bible says that the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ; in Whom we should trust, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. In the Old Testament, Moses represents the Law of God, while Elijah is considered to represent the prophetic ministry. They appeared together once in the New Testament with Jesus and several of His followers.
About eight days after Jesus said this, He took Peter, John and James with Him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about His departure, which He was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is My Son, whom I have chosen; listen to Him." When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.
Living out the life of faith is not always easy for us. Sometimes our impatience can erupt, and we might wonder why God isn’t more timely with us. That does not seem to be an area of concern as far as God is concerned. Consider, for example, how God poured out His blessing upon the people of Israel during the Exodus sojourn.
The Bible tells us that whenever Moses entered the LORD's presence to speak with Him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.
The trip out of Egypt to the Promised Land should have taken about eleven days. It took forty years. All that time, God blessed the people with His presence. God manifested His presence to Moses so powerfully that Moses’ face would literally shine with God’s glory.
In some cases it may take us four days to grow spiritually in some area while it takes others only one. However, chances are most of us will not best Israel’s "record" of an eleven day journey lasting forty years. Even if we do, God’s got so much time and patience that He isn’t about to simply do the growing for us. We have to live out our own lives before God. It really is as though God would say to each of us, "I will give you guidance, but I won’t do it for you."
posted by Pastor Monahan at 6:01 PM
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