Allow God to teach and lead

Isaiah 48:17 (NLT)

17 This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow.

The Lord is our Redeemer, the provider of our salvation through Jesus Christ. We place our faith in Christ knowing our salvation is secure. At times we fail to do what is right and to follow God, but God in His mercy and grace continues to teach us what is good and leads us along paths that while they may even seem difficult, they are where we need to be.

From a reprint in Men of Integrity (May/June 2003), Henry Blackyby writes the following in Hearing God’s Voice (Broadman & Holman, 2002).

The first funeral I ever conducted was for a beautiful three-year-old. She was the first child born to a couple in our church, and the first grandchild in their extended family. Unfortunately, she was spoiled. While visiting the little girl's home one day, I observed that she loved to ignore her parents' instructions. When they told her to come, she went. When they said, "sit down," she stood up. Her parents laughed, finding her behavior cute.

One day their front gate was inadvertently left open. The parents saw their child escaping out of the yard and heading toward the road. To their horror, a car was racing down the street. As she ran out between two parked cars, they both screamed at her to stop and turn back. She paused for a second, looked back at her parents, then gleefully laughed as she turned and ran directly into the path of the oncoming car. The parents rushed their little girl to the hospital, but she died from her injuries.

As a young pastor, this was a profound lesson for me. I realized I must teach God's people not only to recognize His voice but also immediately to obey His voice when they hear it. It is life.

How often do we foolishly do things without heeding what we know in our hearts is the right thing to do?  How often do those follies we participate in lead us on paths that are either not pleasant or even harmful to our lives? The Lord is always with us, teaching us what is good. For our own sakes God allows us to go down paths that are sometimes painful, difficult and hard to bear, but those paths are what we need to follow for our own good. The good news The Lord is still there with us.

Sometimes we want a quick fix in life. Sometimes we want issues solved right now this minute, but God knows what we really need and leads us in the proper way and in the proper time. God does this for us; for the good of our own lives because He loves us.