Life's Inanities and Ironies

"And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light." — Exodus 13:21 Israel did not wander because God lost the map. He refused the near road through Philistia, “lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt” (Exodus 13:17–18). He led them about, through the wilderness of the Red sea. The long road was not a mistake. It was mercy they could not yet recognize. We want the shortest distance between conversion and ease. God wants a people who know His name in the desert. The pillar meant guidance can be unmistakable and still uncomfortable. Israel did not lack direction. They lacked contentment. Those are different problems. Moses himself had to be led. Forty years in Pharaoh’s house. Forty years on the backside of the desert. Then the bush that burned and was not consumed. If you are in a hidden season — a small church, a plain job, a long obedience with little...

  "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." — Hebrews 11:8 Genesis 12 is the schoolhouse of guided faith. “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee.” The command was clear. The map was not. God named the leaving before He named the coordinates. He often gives enough light for obedience, not enough light for control. Abraham had a promise, an altar, and a tent. He did not have a completed itinerary. Faith does not require omniscience. Faith requires a trustworthy Speaker. If you must see the whole road before you will take the first step, you are not asking for guidance. You are asking to stop needing it. Guidance demanded separation — country, kindred, father’s house. Some paths cannot be walked while you remain entangled with the old life or the approval of people who do not fe...

  "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." — Colossians 3:15 Many have been taught to “let peace be the umpire.” There is a biblical place for that sentence. There is also a ditch on either side of the road. Colossians 3:15 does not float as a method for choosing a house or a spouse. It sits in a paragraph about putting off the old man, putting on mercy, letting the word of Christ dwell richly, and living as members of one body. The peace in view is not a private shiver of excitement. Even the phrase “in one body” warns us against treating peace as a purely individual sensation. God can restrain a believer through holy unrest. But Jonah slept in the storm, which proves a quiet conscience is not always a clean one. The flesh can feel peaceful while walking toward disaster. Conversely, obedience can feel costly and still be right. Jesus sweat as it were great drops of blood in Gethsemane and was in the exac...

  "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." — Proverbs 11:14 The lone-ranger Christian is not a picture of faith. He is often a picture of pride. God has set believers in local churches under qualified pastors and among mature saints. The man who will not be advised is already announcing that he trusts his own heart, and Jeremiah 17:9 has answered that confidence. “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise” (Proverbs 12:15). “Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established” (Proverbs 15:22). God frequently guides through people who know the Word and know you. That is not a downgrade from “hearing God.” It is one of the ordinary ways He has chosen to be heard. Choose counselors carefully. The world will counsel you toward comfort. A carnal friend will baptize your flesh in spiritual language. Rehoboam forsook the old men who had s...