Chapter 28 - Guidance

Chapter 28, in 7 Bible passages, enlarged our understanding of God’s “Guidance”, as follows:

1 Samuel 3:1-10
Exodus 13:17-22
John 10:1-15
Genesis 24:1-67
1 Samuel 16:1-13
Judges 6:11-40
John 16:5-15

Prayer:

The Christian life has often been compared to the taking of a journey or pilgrimage. And this is so. There is a sense in which we are but “passing through this land.” But we must always remember that we are never the Guide. We never blaze an uncut trail; Christ has gone before. In your prayer this week think of God as Guide, and ask him to direct your path.

Hymn:

The hymn for Chapter 28 was “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” by William Williams. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)

Benediction:

“Father, you alone know what lies before me this day, grant that in every hour of it I may stay close to you. Let me today embark on no undertaking that is not in line with your will for my life, nor shrink from any sacrifice which your will may demand. Suggest, direct, control every movement of my mind; for my Lord Christ’s sake. Amen” (John Baillie in A Diary of Private Prayer)

Meditation Selections:

The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of Thomas R. Kelly, Paul Tournier, Richard J. Foster, Tilden H. Edwards and Hannah Whitall Smith. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)

Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:

• “…this total Instruction proceeds in two opposing directions at once. We are torn loose from earthly attachments and ambitions. – contemptus mundi. And we are quickened to a divine but painful concern for this world – amor mundi. He plucks the world out of our hearts, loosening the chains of attachment. And He hurls the world into our hearts, where we and He together carry it in infinitely tender love.”
• “God guides us, despite our uncertainties and our vagueness, even through our failings and mistakes. …He leads us step by step, from event to event.”
• “…that basic insight found scattered throughout Christian literature that each of us is a child of royal lineage. Royal means a status that cannot be earned, only given. …Christian spiritual guidance in all its forms exists to reveal this condition in us and encourage our reconciliation with transforming power to our royal Source…”
• “You must recognize the fact that God’s thoughts are not as man’s thoughts, nor His ways as man’s ways; and that He who knows the end of things from the beginning alone can judge of what the results of any course of action may be.”
• “There are four ways in which He reveals His will to us – through the Scriptures, - through providential circumstances, - through the convictions of our own higher judgment, - and through the inward impressions of the Holy Spirit on our minds. …And in all true guidance these four voices will necessarily harmonize, for God cannot say in one voice that which He contradicts in another.”
• “God’s promise is, that He will work in us to will as well as to do of His good pleasure. …The way in which the Holy Spirit, therefore, usually works in this direct guidance is to impress upon the mind a wish or desire to do or to leave undone certain things.”

What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 28 not quoted) mean to you? Please post your responses to the blog site:
(http://lhcndeeperlifeclass.blogspot.com/).

Thanks for your participation.
John