Experiencing God's Guidance

Marcel Malgo

How often have Christians asked themselves how they can know the Lord’s guidance — God’s will for their lives. I believe that this is one of the most difficult things in the life of a believer and yet a Christian may experience the guidance of the Eternal God in different ways.

In the following study we shall consider two ways in which we can know the will of God and experience His guidance.

Guidance through the Word of God

A Christian who wants to experience the Lord’s guidance must first be filled with a deep, childlike trust in the revealed Word of God. If you are looking for absolute assurance, then open your Bible over and over again. The Psalmist prayed, “Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments” (Psalm 119:66). He desired “good judgment and knowledge”; that is, to know the Lord’s will. But how will this take place? Through the Word of God, “I have believed thy commandments.”

Why is the Word of God able to help us experience the Lord’s wonderful guidance? Because it is not only the Word of the Eternal God, but Christ is the Word in person. Yet Christians often have problems at this very point. They often put it like this, “If only I could hear the Lord speaking as the disciples did and others in their time, then I would have more faith.” This is not true. If only such brothers and sisters realized what it means to listen to the Word of God, then they would find out that they are hearing Jesus speak when they read the Bible. The Gospel of John speaks very clearly of this fact, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God…and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-2, 14). These words speak of Jesus. What is He called? The Word! Truly, Jesus Christ is the incarnate Word of God. That is why He is called by this very significant name in the last book of the Bible, “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God” (Revelation 19:13).

Although the Lord has given us understanding, and to those who believe in Jesus His Holy Spirit, when we read the Holy Scriptures, there are sometimes words, truths and contexts that we do not understand correctly, or do not understand at all. There are quite a few Christians who have a problem with the term “incarnate Word,” but when we come across words and passages in the Bible that we do not understand we may and we must believe what is written. God’s Word is the truth! In other words, if there is something in the Bible that we do not understand, than we should let our understanding be at zero and our faith at 100!

In Job 8:9 we read the words of Bildad the Shuhite, “For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing…” Is this not a confession that we should also utter often? Is it not time that we should admit there are many things we do not know or understand? Should we not be more honest here? If we do, we will experience an inner liberation that leads to a childlike faith. Those who confess their lack of understanding will experience their faith begin to grow. By the way, is it not so that we are continually being confronted with our inadequacy in our prayers? This is why the apostle Paul wrote, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26). We rely on prayer, then, on the Holy Spirit, because we are actually incapable of praying the way God wants us to. This is what we have to do where biblical truths are concerned that we cannot understand with our minds. Let us trust the Word of God completely
by leaving this to the Holy Spirit.

As born-again Christians, we believe with all our hearts that Jesus is the incarnate Word of God. This is why we may experience divine guidance through the words of the Old and New Testament. When the Word of the Eternal God speaks to us, then Christ is speaking to us. Our Lord Himself confirmed this when He said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). By the Scriptures, He meant all of the Old Testament, and I believe He also meant the New Testament, which would be completed approximately 100 years after He was born. And because all of Holy Scripture testifies of Jesus, we read in the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he [Jesus] expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Here too Jesus testified clearly that He would be found in the Scriptures. And this means Scripture speaks His words — He is the Scripture!

Those who read the Bible with this faith will be given an abiding strength, an indestructible source of blessing, through the Word of God. For the Lord Jesus, who is the truth in person, testified concerning His words, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). Should not we who belong to Jesus trust and believe the Word of God much more so that we can experience His guidance through it? The words in the Bible are not simply written words but are Christ Himself! Shall we not then take to heart the admonition of the Father, “This is my beloved Son; hear him” (Mark 9:7). Hear Him, therefore, if you want to experience God’s guidance. In practical terms, this means open your Bible and read it prayerfully. This alone will result in your continually walking on the narrow path of salvation: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). These words speak in a wonderful way about divine guidance, for Christ, the incarnate Word, said of Himself, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). This is divine guidance, which all those who put their trust wholly in the Word of God, that is Jesus Christ, may experience.

The following examples may serve to illustrate what it means to experience God’s guidance in and through the Word of God. My father told us years ago that somebody once offered to work together with him, whose main interest, however, was financial. My father was very unsure whether he should cooperate with this man, and he cried out to the Lord to help him, opened his Bible, and his eyes fell on the words of Proverbs 1:14, “Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse.” This was followed by the warning in the next verse, “My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path” (verse 15). These words were such a clear warning from above to him that he turned down the offer without hesitating. Later on it became clear that this was the only right decision. Perhaps you are asking now if we can we treat the Bible in this way? My father did not frantically seek these words; they were given to him. In other words, he experienced clear divine guidance through the Word.

I remember another occasion in my father’s life when he was driving a rather ancient automobile on a highway with my mother in the car. Suddenly my father said to my mother, “I am feeling really weird. Sort of dizzy. We need to stop at the next exit.” Fortunately the next exit was not far off and they stopped immediately, whereby my father’s dizziness was increasing alarmingly. They had hardly parked their car when one of the back wheels broke off the axle. It was immediately clear to my parents why my father had felt dizzy. A wheel was about to fall off the car! Since they were not able to continue their journey, the car wound up being towed to the next garage and my parents had to spend the night in a hotel. Once they were settled in their room, my father picked up his Bible and read these wonderful words from the German translation of Psalm 4:3: “Know that the Lord guides His saints in a wonderful way.” This was a confirmation for my parents that the Lord had been leading them. Otherwise the situation might have come to a sad end.

I am convinced that many of you may have experienced similar events in your lives.

We can trust what God says to us in His Word, and in this way we will experience His clear guidance over and over again. If you have received a word from the Lord, do not let the enemy rob you of this word through thoughts of doubt.

I once read the following words in a book by a blessed man of God named Oswald Chambers: “If you read a word of God in your Bible, or are given a word of God, and this word is like a flash of lightning in your heart because it is a clear answer to the question you have laid before the Lord, do not hesitate to believe that the Lord has spoken to you. Cast all doubt behind you, stand up and act according to what was said to you. God has spoken to you as though an angel from heaven had come to speak these words to you.”

George Müller expressed in the clearest possible way that God stands by His promises. He led an orphanage in Bristol, England, with 2,000 orphans, on the promises of the Bible alone.

There are also testimonies of women who have trusted in the Word of God wholly and not been put to shame. I once had the privilege of visiting an 80-year old Jewish woman who was a believer in Jesus. She had come to faith in Jesus Christ as a child and had survived the Holocaust. Concerning the Bible, she said to me, “I have always firstly read what was written, then secondly accepted what was written, and thirdly done that which was written.” In the darkest of times this woman experienced the Lord’s guidance through His Word in a wonderful way. God stands by those who
trust His Word in every situation and allows them to experience His wonderful guidance. Why is this?

The Holy Scriptures are:

the sole revelation of God
the only direct speech of God
the only unchanging support
the only infallible authority

The Holy Scriptures alone are:

credible
unchanging
incorruptible

Therefore we may experience God’s wonderful guidance in our lives if we make the words and promises of Holy Scripture our own.

Guidance under the eyes of God

Psalm 32:8 is a verse that wonderfully reveals God’s guidance in our lives, and how this takes place, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” The Lord is saying to His children here that He will guide them by keeping His eye on them. The loving relationship between a father and his child came to my mind as I read this verse. The father holds his child by the hand and his eyes are constantly upon him.

When a young man once asked the Lord Jesus about eternal life (Mark 10:17), and told Him that he had kept all that was required of him from his youth (verse 20), we read, “Then Jesus beholding him loved him…” (verse 21). Why did Jesus look at him? To guide him, to take him by the hand, so that he could see the right way for his life. The rich young ruler had the chance of being led by Jesus Himself! The eyes of the Lord rested upon him in great love, but the man did not respond. What a tragedy! It is an infinite proof of His love when His eyes rest upon us and He wants to guide and counsel us in this way.

When we consider what wonderful eyes they are that rest upon us, we have to say, what a great Lord we have! Scripture describes those eyes that are upon us, with which He wants to lead us, “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire” (Revelation 1:14). This means that His eyes see into the depths of darkness. Nothing is hidden from Him. He still sees that which we have long since lost sight of. What is completely incomprehensible for us lies open and clear before Him. The psalmist was completely aware of this when he prayed, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:7-10). In this way too, the Lord wants His children to experience His guidance: He guides them in that His eyes are upon them day and night, in all the circumstances in their lives, wherever they may find themselves. A person upon whose life God’s eyes are, whom God can lead in this way, is a spiritual person. In other words, the working of the Holy Spirit is the foundation in the life of such a person. The Holy Spirit is the engine that drives him to do the right thing, to choose the right way.

Let us look again at the words of Romans 8:26, then, where our incapability in prayer is spoken of, and which speak of the help of the Holy Spirit, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.” Why does the Holy Spirit intercede for us so that we pray correctly? What is His motive? Is He doing this at the command of another? Yes He is. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in prayer as God the Father wills. We see this from the next verse, “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (verse 27). God the Father wants us to pray in a certain way. He wants to counsel us in that He has His eye upon us and leads us according to His will. And now it is the Holy Spirit who works this will of the Father in us.

It is just the same with the fact that the Holy Spirit wants to “guide us into all truth,” as Jesus said. Why does the Holy Spirit do this? Because the Lord Himself wants this, because His eyes are upon us and because He wants to guide us into all truth. The Lord Jesus says in this connection, “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.” Why does the Holy Spirit do this? “…for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak…he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:13-14). If the Holy Spirit wants to guide us into all truth, this has to do with what the Lord Jesus wants to do in our lives, “…he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

It is the eyes of the Lord that are continually upon us to lead and guide us, but it is the Holy Spirit who, like an interpreter, explains the will of the Lord and clarifies it.

Now the following question remains: how does the Holy Spirit do this in us? How does this take place when the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered? How does He make known to us the things we should pray for? He does not call for an angel to come down from heaven and give us a list of prayer requests. How does this function in practical terms? Certainly not in weird and wonderful ways, as perhaps many Christians have wished. No, the Holy Spirit simply lays a burden on our hearts, or it comes into our minds to pray for this or that.

This is how it is with the most important office of the Holy Spirit; namely, the glorification of Jesus in and through us. Jesus said, “He [the Holy Spirit] shall glorify me” (John 16:14). This means that He does not speak through a spectacular or unusual experience. No, He is making it clear that the Holy Spirit magnifies the person of Jesus in us. He urges us to think of Him. He awakens in us the desire for fellowship with Jesus and His Word, or He gives us the inner urge, for instance, to declare our love for our Lord, just as David did in Psalm 18:1, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.” David did not pray these words because they were revealed to him in a special kind of way, but because he felt it in his heart and simply wanted to praise the Lord. And this is just how it happens with those who have become the property of Jesus. Suddenly we feel things in our heart that we should do or not do.

Through the eyes of the Lord being upon us and the working of the Holy Spirit in us we sometimes feel the desire to do one thing and not to do another. In other words, we feel very strongly, or know even, this way is right and the other is wrong. Yet the eyes of the Lord are not on all people without exception. Not everyone experiences the working of the Holy Spirit in the above-described manner. There is a condition that says, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (2 Chronicles 16:9). God wants to instruct us and show us the way we should go. He wants to counsel us. He wants to direct His eyes upon us (Psalm 32:8), but only if we also want this, if our hearts are perfect before Him. Only genuinely devoted children of God will experience this special guidance of the Lord. Only they will experience the fact that the eyes of the Lord are upon them and the Holy Spirit is working in them.

Make sure that there is no obstacle between you and the Lord. Only in this way will you experience this extraordinary guidance of the Lord. Do it and you will experience the special guidance of God, as it is written in Isaiah 30:21, “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”

MidnightCall Magazine

March 2010

News From Israel Magazine

March 2010

Experiencing God's Guidance

Guidance through the Word of God

Guidance under the eyes of God