How Does God Guide Our Lives?

In this regular feature, Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.Here is this week’s question:Dear Dave and Tom: I’m a fairly new and rather enthusiastic Christian who really wants to grow spiritually.There are so many things I have heard other Christians say and do that I would like to see take place in my own life, but I’m not sure how to go about it.For example, they claim that God guides their lives, helping them make decisions.Do you believe that’s true?If so, how can that happen in my life?

Tom:

Dave, I believe God guides my life.I know hanging around you for almost three decades, some of the examples that you’ve given on how God has guided your lives, you and Ruth and your family made decisions based on God’s giving you an indication of what you were to do in certain situations.That’s happened in my life, but how does a young Christian, who really doesn’t know the Word of God, not really apprised of what the Word of God is about, the Bible.How does a young Christian go about that?

Dave:

Well, Abraham’s servant, back in Genesis 24, I think it is, said, I, being in the way, the Lord led me.Whoever this person is who wants God’s guidance, are you serving the Lord?He’s not going to just guide you for everything.Well, I’m not going to get out of bed this morning until the Lord shows me it’s really His will.No, but if you are serving the Lord, and you are in the way that He wants you to go—

Tom:

That is, growing in the faith, or is it more than that?

Dave:

Well, look, are you doing something worthwhile for the Lord?And is there something worthwhile that He would like to lead you into or what would you need Him to guide you to do?I mean, you’re just going about your business and you really don’t even think about the Lord.How often do you thank Him for His redemption?How often do you tell God you love Him?Are you really praying without ceasing?Are you walking in communion with Him?Well then, you might expect some guidance.But if you just maybe now and then want to—Wow, really I wish the Lord would tell me what to do in this situation.He might not even tell you that, because you haven’t been walking with Him in a way that would cause Him to continue to guide you.That’s a problem, and we need to—and I speak to my own heart.How often have I told the Lord I love him today, thank Jesus for His salvation?Well, I must confess, today I forgot, I didn’t even do it once.That’s horrible, because I do not like that to ever happen.So, well, I guess I did it a couple of times, yeah, but not like I would like to.So Tom, I could just quickly say, here was our family, my wife and I, four children, ages 8 to 15, and a VW bus.We were in Lebanon, and we were in a serious situation.I didn’t know that war was breaking out, but we prayed.I remember very clearly, we prayed one night, Lord; you’ve got to guide us.Are we going to go on, are we going to get out of here?We had a double transit visa to go through Syria and to Jordan, and then we thought we would sneak across the metal-bound gate.Well, you can’t, don’t do that!But anyway, that night—well, not during the night, but in the morning when we woke up, we had asked for four—now, here’s a specific case of guidance—we had asked for four specific signs.It’s like putting out a fleece, but we didn’t know which way to go.We said Lord, would you please show us what to do, and if this happens, and this happens, and this happens, and this happens.Our children were there my wife Ruth and I, and I laid out these four things.Now, George Muller used to say, you don’t just say, Okay, God, hit me with a bolt of lightening, or do something.But you could put down on one side of the paper what—this is one set of alternatives, here’s another set over here, Lord, show us which one.And we just asked for four specifics.I can tell you the next morning all four were telling us, Get out of here!And we headed North through Syria, I don’t know how long, maybe an hour or so, we had been over the border into Turkey, and we pulled into a gas station.Well, of course we don’t speak Turkish, he’s making like an airplane, and dropping bombs and so forth, and we knew a war had broken out that we could have been in the middle of on our way to Jordan, and God graciously delivered us.He will guide us in all kinds of ways.

Tom:

Dave, the other part of this, and we’re alluding to it in our other segments, as you get to know the Lord, as you grow in your personal, intimate relationship with Him, you know His Word, you know what He said, Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments.Well, He’s talking about everything that He said, all right, not just the Ten Commandments.But that helps, because you know, it’s like me in my relationship with my wife, I know what she likes and what she doesn’t like.I know what may upset her, what may really bless her and please her, and that guides me about how I go about my life.I think it’s the same with the Lord, we have to grow in our relationship with Him, we have to know Him better through His Word, primarily.

Dave:

But we want Him to guide us into His will so that we can be more fruitful.That must be our motive and our desire; otherwise, what’s the point in seeking guidance from God.

Tom:

But isn’t I wonderful, some people I know say, you’re kidding, you’re telling me that God can actually guide and direct your lives?Absolutely!It’s not a matter of being a theologian, somebody who understands the secrets; it’s just a matter of your relationship with Him.Is it growing, is it developing or not.

Dave:

Well, Tom, you know, I could tell hundreds, literally hundreds of incidents of this kind of guidance.Okay, I being in the way, the Lord led me.