The Lord Guides
This sermon comes as promise to all who listen to me this night. I know it is an awesome occasion to greet a couple on their 40th wedding anniversary and also to share a promise to our beloved uncle who celebrates his 70th birthday. In such an occasion it is blessed to give everyone a blessed promise, because without the promise of God you and I would have never come this far. The promise is taken from the book of
Isaiah 58:11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
When we look at the concept of guide – the dictionary explains a guide as a person who leads the traveler to the destination and explains him everything and leads to the end. Well I am thoroughly amazed at this explanation because the bible also tells us that we are strangers and pilgrims in this world which is not our own and the Lord himself guides us in every path making us reach the destiny. I want to put before you 2 questions and find answers to it from the scriptures.
The first question is who does the Lord guide?
The second question is in what does the Lord guide?
I want to find answer for the second question first and then work through the first later.
What does the Lord guides us to?
The Lord guides us to –
1. Satisfying our Basic needs.
2. Strengthening our Physical body.
3. Saturating our Emotions.
Before beginning to explain these aspects I would like to point you to something that was striking about God’s intellect, Abraham Maslow was known for the theory of motivation and he proposed the theory of hierarchy of needs only in the year 1943 but even before that several centuries ago the Lord God has given us the hierarchy of needs in the scripture as a prophetic utterance, that is what we read in Isaiah 58:11, he is concerned about every one of our fundamental need before we could self-actualize and reach eternity. Let me begin with the first –
Satisfying our Basic Needs: (he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land)
As a guide the Lord leads us in meeting our basic needs of food, water and shelter. Psalms 23 tells us that he leads us into the green pastures and quite waters, but sometimes there is also difficulty in getting through this that is why the scripture promises that he will satisfy our need in a sun-scorched land. He also taught us to pray - give us today our daily bread and not bread for the whole year. The Bible also tells that the Lions go hungry and feed on grass but whoever puts their trust in the Lord will never be let down. Therefore whatever be the condition the Lord is sure to take care of our basic needs.
Strengthening our Physical body: (and will strengthen your frame.)
Another important aspect after the basic needs are met, are the needs of security that is our need for survival and strengthening. Jeremiah 33:6 tells us " ’Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.” This is the ultimate purpose of God that we enjoy health and healing. But sometimes we do go sick and tired and weary those are moments where the bible tells that we experience the strength of God in our weakness. He says “My grace is sufficient for you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” The Lord is faithful to give us our strength and he knows we are weak people. Only when we are weak do we know what is to look for strength. Therefore the Lord is surely faithful in taking care of our Physical needs.
Saturating our Emotions: (You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.)
According to Maslow, the third level of need is the love and belonging need, the Lord is pretty much sure that we need to be loved that is why the bible tells us that he loved us even when we were sinners and the scripture also tells us that he first loved us. We are loved and taken care, what brings emotional happiness to people is the blessing that we possess in terms of wealth and health. Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it. On the contrary if we look at the world they consider wealth as the key criteria but that adds trouble surely no blessing. A well-watered garden is lush green and healthy and the Lord wants us to be blessed that way. Therefore be assured that the Lord will guide to our emotional well being too.
I have dealt with the second question of what the Lord would guide us into; he will guide us to satisfaction of basic needs, strengthening of the physical body and finally saturation of the emotions. Now I need to answer the first question of whom does the Lord guide? We find the answer in the book of Psalms 25:9 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way. What is this being humble, and it is one thing that is most often misunderstood and many explain in terms of the outlook, they think it is dressing up poorly or looking sober but to me more than this visible looks of poverty it is to do with keeping the LORD as the centre of everything in life. Without the Lord there is nothing -that is the attitude that can lead us to be more humble. If you read the prayer of John the Baptist, he says that the Lord should increase and he should decrease, this is humility. Are we having this attitude of the Lord increasing in our life and we becoming insignificant – if such is the case I want to let you know the Lord will guide all through. Check yourself tonight if the Lord is guiding and whether you are humble? God bless you. Amen.
