I’m always really confused by people who never have any problems with God’s guidance; those who know exactly what it is that God wants them to do at every point in their lives. They seem to have a hotline to God and to have a ‘todo list’ handed down from them from on high which sets out both the minutiae of what they should do each day and the bigger picture of where their lives should go, whereas my experience is exactly the opposite. I used to think that I’d get this guidance thing worked out, but after forty years as a Christian, I still find it difficult.
However, I’m in good company; there are times when the Apostle Paul really struggled, too!
In Acts 16, Paul and his companions made their plans, but found themselves constantly overruled by the Holy Spirit, until finally they got some clear direction.
Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.
That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.
It took them a while, but eventually they got a clear picture from the Spirit about what they were supposed to do. However, we’d be mistaken if we thought that the Spirit always gave clear directions.
Let’s pick the story up with Paul’s farewell to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20
‘And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
The Spirit seems to be saying two things to Paul
- Firstly, he was compelling Paul to go to Jerusalem. That is straightforward enough – we’ve seen that Paul was guided in similar ways a number of times.
- Secondly, the Spirit was warning him that he was heading into prison and hardship.
Now this is straightforward enough; the Spirit is giving clear directions – even if they do imply that Paul is going to spend a significant time in a Roman jail.
But it gets more complicated…
Paul and his companions said goodbye to the Ephesians and sailed on towards Jerusalem. Acts 21
After sighting Cyprus and passing to the south of it, we sailed on to Syria. We landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo. We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.
Get that ‘through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem’. We just read that the Spirit was compelling Paul to go to Jerusalem and now the disciples in Tyre are urging him not to go there – and they are doing it through the Spirit!
What are we to make of this?
The first thing to say is that we can dismiss the idea that the disciples from Tyre were false prophets or had got things wrong. Luke says nothing that would give us a reason to think that. He reports the incident simply and directly – no messing around. So, what do we do?
I think that there are two things that we can take from this passage:
- Guidance can sometimes be more complicated than we think it is. We often talk about God’s will as if there were only one possible option – if you want to follow God, there is only one path for your life. What sort of boring God operates like that? Sometimes God puts options out in front of us and asks us to choose. He has all sorts of good things for us and he can work with any of them – he is far more interested in the faith we show as we make choices than is in seeing us rolling forward on some sort of spiritual railway line with no option to change.
- Secondly, I believe that God was giving Paul the option of a way out. “I’m sending you to Jerusalem and it’s going to be pretty horrible, so if you’d like to go somewhere else, now’s the time to say so.” But Paul just kept on going.
There are a number of conclusions that you can draw from these incidents; but the idea that the Holy Spirit always guides in a clear and unambiguous fashion is not one of them!
37 replies on “Some Things Just Aren’t Clear”
Very (un)helpful!
Paul Best liked this on Facebook.
Nev McCormack liked this on Facebook.
I’ve often wondered whether Paul “got it wrong” by going to Jerusalem. Thanks for that, it’s helped my thinking on that event.
Enjoyed John Goldingay’s comment – ” I hold the heretical view that there’s no basis for thinking that God has such a plan; God leaves decisions to us. Being a loving Father, God doesn’t have plans for us, though He does have expectations”
John Baxter-Brown liked this on Facebook.
Ann Austin liked this on Facebook.
Heather Jayne Penrod liked this on Facebook.
Strange – it says 10 comments, but I can’t see any of them.
I’m having trouble with the comments system – but I don’t have time to sort it all out.
Evi Rodemann liked this on Facebook.
Heather Joy liked this on Facebook.
I agree, especially after dealing with people who were convinced of God’s guidance, went ahead against the advice of others and failed. It seems to me that “God has called me to x” can be a haven for a strong personal desire to do x.
On the other hand, I know more than one person who says they get personal guidance on all sorts of things and all that seems to work out for them, and they have great respect in their Christian communities as people of wisdom and insight.
Both seem to happen, I know people with’ a hot line’ who get it right often enough to have my respect. But they don’t claim to know exactly how the whole future will pan out, more that they get glimpses of what God has planned but not the whole thing so they can’t just steam ahead in their own strength, they still have to have day by day faith and input
, I’ve also come across insecure people who use the ‘lord has told me’ card and can cause havoc around them as others pick up the pieces. I’ve not come across any of the first type who are arrogant or aggressive, they display the fruit of the spirit throughout their daily living. I honestly think God guides different people differently, and two key things prevent ‘mistakes’. IF the absolute bottom line desire is to be obedient, it’s OK to take a logical step in the absence of clear other guidance knowing that God has promised to put us back on the right path if we stray off ‘you will hear a voice gently saying, this is the path, walk this way’ . also we are supposed to walk by faith surely that means we don’t always know what comes next, big or little.
Elizabeth Schwarz liked this on Facebook.
Ed Lauber liked this on Facebook.
My wise Bible school teacher used to say, ‘Don’t ask God for guidance when you’re not doing those things you already know he wants of you.’
What, like Jonah, who received direct guidance from God whilst in the very midst of total rebellion? Or Moses, hiding from his past crimes by living as a shepherd in the desert? Or David, fresh from his conquest of the lovely Bathsheba and the death of her husband? Nope, your “wise” teacher is wrong, because he is making the guidance of God dependent upon our suitability and deservedness. I am sorry, but your teacher is expressing a Westernised culture, where all reward must be somehow earned.
I used to think I’d have the guidance thing worked out for at least a year or two at a time. This past year of transition proved otherwise. We came home from the field expecting that things would be the same–we would both make trips back to the field and God would provide the resources to do so and our work would continue. I was just getting started in Trauma Healing–and i did make one trip back but right afterwards I had the rug jerked out from under me. The way back has been long and hard–God has definitely been in this but there is still so much fog out there regarding the future it is hard to make a decision from one month to the next. Same for my husband. Just hasn’t panned out the way he hoped. Some goals–like finishing the New Testament are clearly in the Lord’s hands and we have no idea how he will be involved to finish it. We keep trusting the Lord and pursue him fiercely but our way ahead is pretty foggy at times. You can’t see a month ahead. someone will ask what your plans are and you say, “don’t know at this point. Still praying and still following.” With you on this one. I don’t usually get a list to follow from on high. Some days I have no idea what I am to do!
yes, but why does the sign say “No cycling”? Surely THAT’S not God’s will.
Very honest!😃
I relate to the bit “Sometimes God puts options out in front of us and asks us to choose. He has all sorts of good things for us and he can work with any of them” Several times in my Wycliffe recruitment role, I have talked to people undecided about joining Wycliffe or taking up a role elsewhere which had appeared. Usually I told them that I thought God would be happy with either choice. Now can I have some guidance please about what to do when I retire from Wycliffe in December?
I read this recently, and I think there is some wisdom within it:
“The mind wants a job and believes that its job is to process things by its own criteria. The key to stopping this obsessive game is, quite simply, peace, silence, or stillness. Silence is God’s primary language; “everything else is a poor translation,” as Thomas Keating wisely observes.”
[My own thought is of the ‘still, small voice’ wherein Elijah discerned the guidance of God, and the example of Jesus who often went off to be alone and pray.]
Peter Warren liked this on Facebook.
Heather Farrier liked this on Facebook.
Ric Nelson liked this on Facebook.
Paul Bailie liked this on Facebook.
Melanie Carroll liked this on Facebook.
Justin Long liked this on Facebook.
At the age of 58, I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up. Fortunately, I don’t seem to be growing up. https://t.co/8bRca8K6D8
It would seem that Paul had lessons to learn about how the Spirit speaks to others as well as to himself.
Some Things Just Aren’t Clear https://t.co/mKgYozqi2t @Kouyanet
Wilma Veenkamp liked this on Facebook.
Marion Knell liked this on Facebook.
Laurel Miller liked this on Facebook.
Francis Viscount liked this on Facebook.