Know him in all
your paths, and he will keep your ways straight.”
Proverbs 3:5, 6 (Common
English Bible)
The fall
semester of my senior year in college would be in England. Arriving at Gatwick
Airport in London, I disembarked the flight, entered the airport and
immediately experienced considerable confusion. Standing in a common area,
bewildered by the signage, I felt a hand on my shoulder: “This is the direction
you want to go,” spoke a friendly voice. The confusion cleared, my path was
made clear, and I was on my way. I am a reasonably intelligent person but that
was a moment when I desperately needed guidance.
Anyone honest about his or her own life
journey admits moments where guidance is welcomed. It is no mistake that high
schools, colleges and universities have “guidance counselors” available to
their students. Determining a direction in life is not something to be decided
casually. Nor is it a simple matter to discern God’s desire and direction for
us as individuals. There are simply moments when we are as bewildered as I was
when I stood in Gatwick Airport so many years ago.
These
words from Proverbs provide help. Rather than be intimidated by the vastness of
choices and decisions to be made, Proverbs invites us into a relationship with
our creator, a relationship that moves from the mind to the heart. There is a
critical difference. The mind alone gathers information, orders data and
considers several reasonable alternatives. The entire exercise can be
accomplished without ever disturbing the heart from its sleep. On the other
hand, try building a relationship with a spouse or friend solely on the arrangement
of data. It doesn’t work. The heart senses, feels, and longs to know and be
known. There is knowledge that is simply unavailable using the mind alone.
How shall
we trust and know God with all our heart? We begin by learning of God as God is
revealed in the Bible. We continue by doing God’s will as best as we understand
it from our reading. There is no substitution or short cut. Divine guidance
only comes to those who daily seek it in the scriptures. We become sensitive to
the nudges and promptings of God until one day we sense a hand on our shoulder
and a voice that speaks, “This is the direction you want to go.”
Joy,
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