WHO WILL GUIDE ME?
PSALM 32:1-11
INTRODUCTION
Truth! What is truth? Have you ever asked that question? Pilate did – you can read about that in John 18. You know, it seems to me that a lot of people are asking Pilate’s question today.
I was speaking to a woman from Port Melbourne this week, who, when confronted with the overwhelming evidence of Christ’s resurrection, responded with, ‘well what is truth anyway!’ She went on to say in effect, ‘I think it is wonderful for those who witnessed Christ’s resurrection, that’s fantastic, good on them – that was their truth, but it is not truth for me’. As far as she is concerned you cannot definitely assert that anything is true. All historic documented ‘facts’ are only true insomuch as that they reflect what people thought was true at the time. Truth for her at 6 has nothing in common with truth for her at 36. What is truth for you is not necessarily truth for me. And what is true for me today, may not necessarily be true tomorrow’.
How do you make any decisions with a philosophy like that! She kept saying if it works for you that is fine. I love it that you have found a truth that works for you.
Well we may not be so extreme in our thinking – but, how do we know truth in all things, not just the ‘big’ things in life! How can we know which way to go? Who will guide us in the right & wrong choices in life? The good or bad choices? The good or better choices?
That’s our theme this morning:-
WHO WILL GUIDE ME?
Please follow along as I read Psalm 32. It is on the back of the Flex. And is from the New Living Translation.
This Psalm was written by king David, ‘a man after God’s own heart’. And it is believed to have been composed after Psalm 51, which is the record of David’s confession of his own gross rebellion against God’s ways. I would encourage you to read Psalm 51 at convenient time.
READ
32:1 ’Oh, what joy for those whose rebellion is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!
2 Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
3 When I refused to confess my sin, I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long.
4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.
5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the LORD." And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
6 Therefore, let all the godly confess their rebellion to you while there is time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.
7 For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.
8 The LORD says, "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.
9 Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control."
10 Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the LORD.
11 So rejoice in the LORD and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!’
Who will guide me? Verse 8 tells me:-
1. GOD WILL
"I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”
Or as the NIV puts it:-
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”
God will guide, advise, instruct, teach, counsel & watch over us – in order to set us on the very best path for our lives.
God will guide us!
READ ISAIAH 6:1-3 (NLT)
“6:1 In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.
2 Hovering around him were mighty seraphim, each with six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with the remaining two they flew.
3 In a great chorus they sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty! The whole earth is filled with his glory!"”
Does it sound as though He is able to guide us? It most certainly does!
a). He Is Able
The whole earth is full of His glory. He created it and sustains it. He created you & He created me, we are the workmanship of His hands. God is more than qualified to guide. Who better to guide than our designer! God is able to guide us.
"I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”
He is able, but is He willing?
“5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths.” (Prov 3:5&6) (NLT)
Yes:-
b). He Is Willing to Guide Us
Do you long for someone to tell you what to do? Ah, what relief! – you can ask someone who has got the answers. Lord, where do I go tomorrow? What should I do today? How should I bring up my children? What is right & what is wrong? Where, & with what, & with whom, should I be involved?
You don’t have to depend on yourself for the answers to these questions. You don’t have to be like the lady who has to be in an experience to know whether it is truth for her. You don’t have to have the burden of trying to work out which way to go.
For when you are faced with not knowing which path to take – He says:-
"I will (I am willing to) guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”
He will guide you onto the best possible path.
Thank you Lord!
c). He Longs to Guide us
Oh, how long will this generation refuse to acknowledge My ways – I long to direct you, to lead you in the paths of righteousness, to bring you into that ‘peace which passes understanding’, says the Lord.
‘6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.’ (Ps 34:6) (NIV)
Call on the Lord & He will save you from making the wrong decision, being in the wrong place, taking the wrong path.
The very fact that He promises to guide us – assures us of His desire, His longing to do the same.
"I will (I long to) guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will (I long to) advise you and watch over you.”
So firstly with regard to the question – who will guide me? – God will! He is able, He is willing & He is eager.
That leads us to consider the question:-
2. WITH WHAT SORT OF GUIDANCE?
Okay, hopefully we have established from verse 8 of Psalm 32 that God will guide us.
But what is the nature of His guidance?
Well firstly it is :-
a). Divine Guidance
You may say, ‘what do you mean by that David – are you saying, it is guidance solely in relation to issues of divine nature, or something?’ ‘Or are you saying that the guidance is so good its like being in heaven, its divine, so to speak?’
No! What I mean is this – it is the Divine who guides us. God Himself is our guide!
As far as the guidance being so beautiful, like an indescribable pleasure, that is often not the case – but it nevertheless, is the very best we can have. Because the very best has prescribed it for us.
God guides us. It is the Divine who guides us!
"I (says God) will guide you along the best pathway for your life. And I (says God) will advise you and watch over you.”
The one who holds the answer to everything. The one who said to Job, ’Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?’ (Job 39:27). Can you tell Me how it all works Job? Sure you are going through hard times Job, but I am your guide & I am leading you in the best path imaginable – I know the big picture and I therefore never, ever, ever make a mistake! Keep your trust in Me.
How wonderful to think that our guidance by its very nature is divine – it is from God Himself!
So, with what sort of guidance, God? Divine guidance, and further it is:-
b). Individual/Personal guidance
"I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”
God speaks to us individually. That is not to limit Him. For He most certainly can speak to groups of people, including whole nations. He may even reveal His will to you or me by a body of people! But He also speaks to each of us where we are and in our own particular circumstances.
You are so important to Him & your ways are so important to Him that He has promised to guide & advise & watch over you!
He is able, willing & eager to lead you & me personally into the very best that we can know or experience.
We have seen two things about the sort of guidance He gives – let’s look at a third.
We have discovered that His guidance is Divine and that it is personal, and furthermore it is:-
c). Practical
It is practical guidance. Nothing ‘pie in the sky’ here.
"I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”
Notice, it is general guidance, life guidance talked about here. There is no, I will guide you solely in the ‘deep mysteries’ of life – but rather I will guide you in life, in general. Perhaps the NIV makes this clearer, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.”
He will instruct us in the way we should go. He will watch over, to help us. God is interested in the so called little things of life. For example, (& these a just a couple of many recent incidences I could report):-
Earlier this year (in fact on our way over here from WA), before hooking up the van & leaving a particular caravan park in SA, I went & filled the car with fuel & brought back some milk from a shop further up the road. Since breakfast was still to be had & then we had to pack up, hook up & so on, it was quite some time before we left the caravan park. Just prior to leaving, it was brought to my attention that the petrol cap was missing. I had forgotten to replace it. Well, I thought, don’t panic I will pull into the servo & either collect it from the top of the bowser, or get it from the attendant.
No sign of it at the servo, not even a suspicion. I searched right throughout the grounds – paying particular attention to places where in the past caps have been found due to dips or bumps in the pavement. ‘O well, there goes the cap, I will just have to buy another one’. Got back in the car & drove off. ’ Shot up a little prayer to the Lord as I was driving along, and said, ‘Lord caps gone, there is nothing I can do about it, I will just have to purchase another one, feel frustrated that money will have to be spent because of my mistake, but I know you are in control & I am not going to let this incident worry me. Thanks Lord’. Just as I finished that prayer, I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye, of what could have been a petrol cap. This thing wasn’t even on the road – it was in sand right off the edge. I pulled over – jogged back, & the lost was found! It had fallen off the roof of my car further up the road – on my way to the Milk-bar.
I thought, boy what an unbelievable God – to be concerned about our petrol cap. Coincidence?, no way! Answer to a prayer, that in some ways I hadn’t even prayed.
Another occasion. Automatic clicking in & out of gear as we are towing our van. Middle of the Nullarbor. Almost desperation. Pray. Approaching a station. Decide to continue since it seemed to have sorted itself out. Starts doing it worse than ever some time past station. Dilemma. Continue or go back? Pray. By ‘mistake’ I knock the gearstick. We had been driving for days in overdrive – not knowing that we were meant to be in drive. Coincidence? No, answer to prayer. Drove the rest of the way with no problem.
God will guide us in details that ‘small’. In the practical issue of daily living.
Who will guide me?
1. God will guide me – He is able (He holds the whole world in His hand), He is willing (He has promised it) & He longs to guide me.
2. The sort of guidance He offers is Divine (it is from Him), its personal (its for you & for me) & its practical (its where the rubber hits the road stuff).
But:-
3. WHAT MUST I DO TO RECEIVE GOD’S GUIDANCE?
a). I Must Be Humble
‘He leads the humble in what is right, teaching them his way.’ (Psalm 25:9) (NLT)
To ask for guidance means to confess that we do not know the way. We do not necessarily know the right path to take. Our attitude must be, ‘I am trusting You to lead me’. No matter what we think of where He leads, we must try to trust Him.
David humbled himself before God. In verse 5 of Psalm 32 he tells us, ‘Finally, (after being stubborn & proud) I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the LORD." And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.’
We must humble ourselves to the point of surrendering to ‘The Way, the Truth & the Life’. And allowing Him, that is the Lord Jesus Christ control of our lives.
Secondly, :-
b). I Must Be Watchful
"I will … watch over you.” Says the Lord God Almighty. If He watches us to guide us, we need to be watching Him in return. The picture is of the Master who looks towards his servant, and with a look, a glance or an expression is able to guide and direct.
How do we look back into His eyes, ‘so to speak’? How do we watch Him?
By soaking ourselves in His Word. Getting to know Him so well, that we will easily know the path to take in many, many issues. By spending time conversing with Him in prayer. Committing our ways to Him at the outset of the day – seeking His guidance in everything that we do. By asking God for wisdom. ‘If you need wisdom--if you want to know what God wants you to do--ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking.’ - says (James 1:5) (NLT). By being obedient to His Word. You know, His Word is living, you cut it & it bleeds – cut out the bits you don’t like & it bleeds – you have grieved the Spirit of the Living God. You are dictating to God what He is like. We need to accept & obey His Word. We need to trust in Him alone. Having faith in Him. ‘For without faith it is impossible to please God.’ By following carefully the guidance He gives us by His Spirit. By responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit – this calls for a careful and prayerful walk with the Lord.
And by confessing our sin. David acknowledged his, as verse 5 tells us. ‘Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, "I will confess my rebellion to the LORD." And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.’ (NLT)
God is always ready & eager to forgive our sin. Forgiveness restores relationship. Restored relationship makes divine guidance again possible. We are again sensitive to the Lord, so that He can now guide us gently rather than force us back into the right way as if we were some stubborn animal that can only be controlled by bit & bridle.
In all these things we are building up a personal, intimate, living relationship with Him & will be better equipped to know His guiding. We will be looking unto Him for direction.
And He, ‘"will guide you along the best pathway for your life. Advise you and watch over you.”
‘So (in the words of Psalm 32:11) rejoice in the LORD and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!’
If we are in Christ, we have new, pure hearts.
Who will guide me?
1. God will guide me – He is able (for He is Master of the whole universe), He is willing (for He has promised to guide) & He’s keen, He longs to guide me.
2. He offers divine guidance (it is He who guides), its personal guidance (its for you & for me) & its practical guidance (it is useful in everyday living).
AND IT’S THE VERY BEST GUIDANCE POSSIBLE:-
"I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” Says the Lord God Almighty.
AMEN
