A Life More Than Guidance

Scripture: John 15.9-17; Isaiah 1.2-3; Song 2.8, 5.2


Some years ago at church camp my friend Jim and I were leading a large group of elementary campers up to some A-frame shelters called the Adirondacks. The Adirondacks were situated up the mountain, removed from the rest of the camp. It was a long hike through the woods. It was an especially long hike carrying sleeping bags and other gear with thirty or so campers. The trail is fairly well-marked, but it criss-crosses with other trails, so that if you make a wrong turn you end up taking the really long way.

We had been hiking a long time when we hit a logging road and we knew we had missed the right turn in the trail. Jim and I discussed what we should do. The kids were getting tired. I told him that I thought the logging road would eventually take us to the shelters, that at this point it would be better go forward than go back. So we tried to sound confident as we announced, "Okay, kids we're going to stay on this road, it shouldn't be too much farther!" As we continued walking, I heard a little girl behind us whisper to her friend, "I don't think they know where they're going."

Hearing God speak in our lives can be more clear than stumbling around in the woods. Hearing from God is not a freakish occurence either. It can be normal if there is relationship and life by the Spirit of God. Remember the image of the Vine.

"I am the vine, you are branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing." John 15.5 The Message.

When we are separated ourselves from God, even if only by our indifference, that separation results in a tone deafness to the voice of the Spirit. When we stop hearing the Spirit then we stop understanding what God desires of us. The Prophet Isaiah says that's exactly what happened to God's people during his time.

"The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand."

There is the story in the book of Numbers of Balaam and his donkey. Balaam is riding the animal when suddenly the donkey stops and will not go any further. Balaam urges the donkey to go on but the animal is stubborn. Finally, in a rage, Balaam begins to beat the animal when the donkey turns and in a completely intelligible voice asks, "Why are you beating me?"





Balaam answers, "Because you are making a fool of me." Notice that apparently, Balaam doesn't have a problem with the donkey talking to him, he just has a problem with its stubborness. The donkey, of course, has refused to go any further because the donkey sees what Balaam does not, an angel of the Lord standing in the road with drawn sword in hand, blocking the way. There is double irony here. The "dumb animal" can see and understand the spiritual world much more clearly than Balaam can. Balaam can understand the donkey but doesn't have an understanding of what God wants of him.

The angel tells Balaam, "I have come out as an adversary against you because your way is perverse before me." Even a prophet will go far astray if they separate themselves from close communion with the Lord.

Having this intimate relationship with Jesus does not mean that we won't have any doubt or questions about what God wants, or what God is saying, but we know we have a reliable basis for confidence. We know that God can be trusted to speak clearly to us. Does that mean we can never be mistaken? No. But if we look to reliable confirmation of what we are hearing, we will more often than not walk in God's will.

Dallas Willard talks about the reliability of the "three lights." The three lights are points of reference for us that we can consult in determining what God wants us to do. They are passages from the Bible, circumstances, and impressions of the Spirit. We have already spoken extensively about the centrality of reading and understanding the Scriptures and we have discussed the Still Small Voice. Remember that our spirit, when touched by the Holy Spirit, becomes the "candle of the Lord." These three lights of Scripture, circumstance, and the inner voice or impression will often confirm each other and show us the way to go. In consulting these lights it is obvious that we must use our own judgment as best we can. If we are seeking God then the Spirit of the Lord is at work in us, transforming us "by the renewing of our mind." The Lord helps us to come to wisdom. Does this mean we will never make mistakes in judgment? Of course we will. God does not intend to make us infallible in our judgment and in our conversational walk with him. You could still be wrong about many of the beliefs that you base your life on. But you are usually correct. You could be wrong about the oil in your car, about the amount in your checking account, or about the date that milk was purchased. But that doesn't mean our judgment is unreliable because we sometimes make mistakes.

We seek understanding so we will live life rightly and live life abundantly. But more than that, we seek understanding because we seek to know the author of the story, the maker of the grand design. We open the door because we suspect there is someone important waiting on the other side.

"He brought me to the banqueting table, and his intention toward me was love. . .the voice of my beloved! Look, he comes. . ." Song of Songs 2.4, 8

"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." John 15.15

There is this movie, maybe you have heard of it, called March of the Penguins. It is real footage of their yearly trek out of the ocean onto the grinding ice where they will for months to mate and hatch and raise their young. . .It is both comical and inspiring as you watch them march in single file out into this white forbidding world of ice. They walk resolutely, like some tuxedoed army obeying the silent command of their superior to meet them at the predetermined rendezvous. How do they know where to go in this land of ice with seemingly no reliable landscape, markers or signs by which to steer themselves on the journey? No one knows for sure how they do it. But they do it, risking their lives, with seemngly so much. . .well, faith and confidence. They are confident in the still small voice within them to guide the way.

We can learn a lot from dumb animals.

To live life abundantly we must trust that God is there and he is not silent. We must take the further step of seeking to understand his Word and recognize the quality of his voice to us. Let me quote Willard one more time. "It is an unavoidable fact, that what we do or do not understand, in any area of our lives, determines what we can or cannot believe and therefore governs our practice and action with an iron hand. You cannot believe a blur or a blank." The blanks in our understanding of God can only be filled in by our effort. It will not be done on our behalf. Life with God is a relationship. And relationship is not a one way street. Jesus tells of that he reveals all we need to know to be his friends. The rest is up to us.