Maliub Club on Princess Louisa Inlet in British Columbia, Canada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>Finally I decided to see if I could determine God\u2019s will for whether I should go to camp or not. After praying for a while, I didn\u2019t have any divine revelations. So I decided to do the only sensible thing. I told the Lord that I would go to camp if he wanted me to go, and that I would let the Bible give me his answer. Picking up my Bible and closing my eyes, I let the Scripture fall open, and then put my finger on a passage. \u201cGod,\u201d I prayed, \u201cif this passage tells me to go to camp, I\u2019ll do it. Otherwise, I\u2019m staying home.\u201d I opened my eyes, looked down, and read:<\/p>\n
By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
\nO God of our salvation;
\nyou are the hope of all the ends of the earth
\nand of the farthest seas.
\nBy your strength you established the mountains;
\nyou are girded with might.
\nYou silence the roaring of the seas,
\nthe roaring of their waves,
\nthe tumult of the peoples.
\nThose who live at earth\u2019s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
\nyou make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
\n(Psalm 65:5-8)<\/p>\n
As I read about the farthest seas and the mountains, and about \u201cearth\u2019s farthest bounds,\u201d I felt sure I had received God\u2019s answer. So I went to camp, and, to this day, my experience at Malibu remains as one of the highlights of my life.<\/p>\n
Though I can\u2019t prove it, I still believe that God used my silly little divination game to get me to Malibu. In his grace, he went along with my immature discernment scheme. But I do not believe that the \u201cclose-your-eyes-and-flip-to-a-Bible-passage\u201d approach to spiritual guidance is God\u2019s recommended approach. In fact, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever used this mode of discernment ever again, for good reason.<\/p>\n
Yet this still leaves us with the question: How does God guide us? Today, I\u2019m beginning a blog series in which I will propose several answers to this question. Indeed, I believe that God guides us in a variety of ways, besides the \u201cflip-to-a-Bible-passage\u201d method.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re new to my blog, I should briefly explain my assumptions as I begin this series. I am a Christian who finds a theological home in the Reformed\/evangelical tradition, though I\u2019ve learned much from other Christian traditions as well. I believe, above all, that God has given us the Bible as our supreme guide in matters theological and practical. Thus I might be tempted to answer the \u201cHow does God guide us\u201d question with a simple \u201cThrough the Bible.\u201d But this answer is too simple, since the Bible itself reveals a large number of ways through which God guides his people. So, as this series unfolds, you\u2019ll find that I turn to Scripture again and again for direction.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow, I want to examine some of the silliness associated with seeking God\u2019s guidance.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As a pastor, some of the most common questions I\u2019ve received have do to with divine guidance. What is God\u2019s will for my life? Is God leading me to take this new job? Does God want me to marry this person? Could God be pointing me in a new direction for my life? Of course […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10251],"tags":[10252,10253,21652],"class_list":["post-1080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-does-god-guide-us","tag-divine-guidance","tag-gods-will","tag-how-does-god-guide-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>