Led of the Lord
Psalm 25: 4
Make me know Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth and teach me.
Psalm 32: 8
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
There are several insights we may take away from these passages. You can see the relationship David shared with the Lord. You can also see how he prayed and how he worked with the Lord in times of trouble or times of need. Also interesting is how David prayed in Psalm 25 for the Lord to teach and guide him and then how the Lord answered back with a promise that He would teach and guide David. God even went a little further, beyond the scope of David’s prayer when He said that He would counsel David with His eye upon him. That means that God is going to instruct David and give him advice. I believe that means that David is not going to have to pray about every little thing because God is going to counsel him, give him advice before David ever even gets to the point of a problem. God’s counsel will precede the problem or decision.
One of hardest lessons to learn is to await God’s counsel. Here God has promised to lead and guide David, but David was not the kind of person to sit around and do nothing. He was one to get things done. So, imagine how hard it might have been at times for David to do nothing when he saw something to do. Imagine that God has given him a vision and a goal. Once David had that goal, he would have thought of things that would further that goal. But wait, God said he would counsel you. That necessarily means that you don’t run off ahead of God doing your own thing.
Waiting on God is one of the most difficult instructions for many of us. We have to strike a balance between doing the work God has given us to do and resorting to the power of our hands. God has restrained me so many times in the last many years when I saw ways of doing things or had ideas of how to move forward. When He is leading us though, that means we don’t run off in directions that He has not directed. Sometimes that means doing nothing in a situation. Now that is contrary to the way most of us have been taught. Most of us are doers. In other words, our reaction to a situation is to “do something.” Your friends will even ask you, “What are you going to do?” But when you are following God and allowing Him to bless you, then sometimes the answer is “Nothing.”
I cannot emphasize this strongly enough and yet I am not counseling you to sit on your hands and do nothing while you await God. What I am saying is to seek Him and allow Him to direct your steps. David’s prayer was for God’s instruction. He knew everything else would fall in its right place if he allowed God to lead him.
Recognize that when God is directing you, sometimes you have to leave something alone and let Him bring it forth. Don’t take the dream that God has given you and turn it into a work of the flesh. And don’t worry about the criticism from other people either. God hasn’t spoken to them about His plans for you. Some people are going to find a way to criticize you no matter what you do so pay them no mind at all. Keep your mind focused on the God of Glory. Walk where He says walk and importantly, don’t walk where He has not ordained. Don’t go where He has not sent you. Not doing what Jesus has not instructed you to do is just as important a part of obedience as doing what He says affirmatively to do. When you have heard Him tell you to do a thing, do it with all your might. Do it until He tells you otherwise. Do it until He releases you from it, and do it with joy because you are in His will and nothing is better than that. Be blessed.