Finding the Will of God

Sam was telling us about his fishing trip with his brother Tim. They had just returned from up north and it had been a great time. “We had arranged with Charlie, our guide,” said Sam, “that he would pick us up at the hotel in the morning for the first day of fishing. When he arrived, he told us to wait a minute before we got in his pickup. He said there was going to be some pretty steep climbing after we left the truck up on a ridge. Then he laid out a map on the hood and showed us where we would fish and the route we were going to take.”

Our friend Bill interrupted: “Boy, that's interesting. The guy we had as a guide a couple of years ago never showed us anything on the map. He just said, “Follow me.”
This illustrates two ways of giving guidance. One way is to layout the route on a map, but the other is just to say, “Follow me.” When I came to know Christ as a teenager, the preacher gave me a Bible, and in it, he had written several Bible references. One of them was Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” This doesn't say whether the Lord uses the map method or the follow me method, but it does say He will guide us.

The requirement is wholehearted trust. I am not to lean on my own understanding; I am to trust in God's wisdom. He knows best. He may not show me the way ahead on a map. He may just say, “Follow me.” But what I can be sure of is that He knows the way and He wants me to find it.

It's the way of the world to be self-sufficient and independent. God's way is to walk by faith, and faith is dependency. He is the guide, and we don't give the guide directions; we take directions from the guide. If we acknowledge that God is our guide, we take His directions.

Prayer: Lord, help me to trust in you with all of my heart, to acknowledge you in every path I walk, at every fork in the road. Help me not to lean on my own understanding but to trust in your guidance day by day. When I don't know where the path will lead, help me to take the next step by faith.