How Does God Lead You?

Close your eyes for a moment and think of God. When you think of God, what do you see?

Now, think of a current circumstance that you aren’t quite sure about, or you’re wrestling with, a decision that you’re not sure how to make, or a desire that you are submitting to the Lord. It has to be current—this is important. Now, thinking about that thing, close your eyes for a moment and think of God. Think of what He is thinking about you and how you are going through that circumstance or decision. When you think of God at those times, what do you see? What is God’s demeanor toward you in that situation? And lastly, how does God lead you?

That exercise is a little abstract and I am not an abstract individual, being an engineer that likes clear guidelines, simple rules, and logic. But I think it is an important exercise because it can be revealing of our mental constructs of God…God as we perceive Him, not necessary God as He is.

The reason for the exercise above is that I’m trying to share with you my recent experience and realization of my flawed perception of God. Specifically, concerning some things that I’ve been praying about recently. This is because my view of Him is too often as the tester and me the test taker. Granted, we do at times receive tests from God and you can see some examples in Scripture; however, I have a very incomplete view of God when I’m calling on His help and direction if I think He is looking at me merely as a tester, simply setting a standard that I cannot reach and can therefore never fully please Him or quite get it right without significant mistakes.

This may sound a little harsh, but I have found that it can be a common view of God. And I’m thankful for the self-realization that I have at times been viewing a perfect, loving, sovereign Father as simply a tester…at least in my mental image of Him in these specific situations. Here’s a fact for you and me: we will come across numerous decisions that are of very high importance and a very high degree of difficulty to discern what is best. There are many reasons for this: limited human knowledge and foresight, yet to be developed faith and relationship with God, temptations and spiritual warfare, and a general difficulty in sorting out the good from the best. God’s plans are always not only good, but the best. Additionally, even in less important decisions that aren’t the highest degree of difficulty, we can easily feel lost without a compass or map.

It can be difficult to separate the affinities of our human flesh from the desires of God. We need a mechanism to hear from Him. A mechanism to be led. Without that mechanism, no matter how wise we have been blessed to be, no matter how logical, no matter what our track record of good decisions, without His guidance we will make many terrible decisions and find ourselves far from His good and pleasing will.

This sounds a little scary and it should. We should be scared to death to walk out from the care and protection of our Father God. We stand in His protection even as we rebel against Him and only on rare occasion does He grace us with the experience of His hand removed from our lives. I say “grace us” with that because it is a supreme reality check that will drive the believer—one who knows a relationship with Jesus—to recognize the error of his ways and come running back to the open arms of our God. Rebellion has been exterminated in that moment. I know because I have experienced it, and I am thankful for God’s perfect way of chastening those whom He loves, including you and me (Heb 12:5-6).

Back to the principal question: How does God lead you? The fact of the matter is that He leads you as a Father. Think of your father or mother or whomever has held authority over you and loves you more than anyone else you know…it could be anyone, so long as they love you and have had an influential role in your life. Imagine wondering, “should I go left or should I go right?” when doing so will have a potentially major impact on your life and you literally have no information about either road. Now think about asking that loving person in your life which way you should go. Now imagine that they have perfect knowledge of each road and a perfect desire for your best well-being. Could you trust them with the direction they give you when you ask? Most certainly.

I have painted this picture of a perfect person in the attempt to display God’s character and relationship with each of us. But I believe this is a very good picture of our God. For me, I think of my Dad. I have full confidence that my Dad will lead me in the way that he thinks is best and that he will do just about anything within his power to enable me down the right road or prevent me from the wrong road. I have no doubt and full confidence in the love of my Dad and his intentions. However, my Dad is a man, just like you and me, with limited knowledge and foresight. So intention is not enough. My point is that I can see God a little more clearly with this example in mind, except with perfect knowledge and foresight. Can I trust Him to lead me? Absolutely! Is He sitting in Heaven with His arms crossed, wondering if I can pass the test? I don’t think so. You see, I think when we approach our Father in Heaven with a sincere plea for His hand and face to guide us unto His preferred will, I think He is bent forward, looking intently at us with joy, and doing His utmost to guide us on His path. This is not the picture of a simple “tester.” This is the picture of a loving Father. A most capable Father.

With this view, we can have every confidence that God will absolutely not lead us whatsoever into any bad paths and decisions. Unfortunately, just as with my earthly father, I do have the option of disobedience and ignoring him. God allows that. But He continues to speak right through it. And if we will turn our ear toward Him, we will hear a Father…a real Father, who is fighting for us with fierceness…who is absolutely doing everything we need to guide us unto the His preferred path. I hope that you can take confidence in that. You don’t have to wonder what God’s response is to your prayer—His response is to absolutely guide and direct you down the correct roads. Never stop listening.

You may rightly ask, “But I just don’t know how to listen. I just don’t hear anything. How would I even know His voice? I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it, and if I did, how would I know it was of Him and not of me?” I hypothesize that you have had these thoughts simply because these are my thoughts. Yet, when I look back, I see His hand clearly even when I didn’t perceive it in real time. One thing I’ve noticed: God sometimes speaks very boldly and loudly, but in my experience, He is usually soft spoken and subtle. I have heard it said that the loudest man in the room is the most insecure. I’ll give room for individual personalities and acknowledge that some people are just naturally loud and God uses that. However, the statement paints the picture that the volume of speech is not necessarily an indicator of the authority of the individual. Someone with authority will raise his voice and others are quieted and listen. Someone with even greater authority will simply talk in a low voice and others will be quieted and listen.

God needs only to whisper and matter can be arranged, created, or destroyed. He can literally breathe life into something or withdraw its life. This is a God that needs only to whisper His commands and we should be so intent on His voice that we respond. Nevertheless, this truth does not offer practical help to one asking the questions in the previous paragraph. A reasonable response might be, “I know what I should do and be, but that doesn’t help me do it.” Indeed. There are two principal means by which God will speak to you…personally. Through His Word and in prayer. Remember, we have this promise:

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.” - John 10:27-30

How do we become good, attentive sheep who know the voice of Jesus, our Counselor? It takes some time and effort to grow in tune with our Shepherd’s voice. Think about training an untrained dog. The first time you ask your dog to sit, does he or she sit? Of course not. In time, if you are patient and persistent, and your dog continues to pay attention to you, respecting you and desiring to please you, your dog will learn to sit. In fact, you will both soon enjoy the exercise. Now, please don’t be insulted when I say that we are similar to dogs here. However, I think the gap between us as humans and Creator God is greater than the gap between dog and human. We didn’t create that dog. So the analogy holds, I believe. The point is that we turn toward our Father God with respect and a desire to please Him. God is in turn very patient and persistent. And though we struggle at the beginning, in time, if we will not give up, we will find ourselves learning His commands and obeying with mutual joy. This training is accomplished by time in the Word and prayer, which through the assurance of God's Holy Spirit, we can receive His perfect instruction.

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." - John 14:26

Resolve to spend time in the Bible with sincere attention, and absolutely commit yourself to consistent time in prayer, and I can assure you that your Shepherd’s voice will become clearer than ever. Until then, while you’re gritting it out in the unknown, take a step forward in confidence, calling on your Father God. He will not let you go far down the wrong path before helping you toward the right direction. In fact, He is guiding you to His best right now.

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” -Jer 29:11

Amen.