Paperback(New Edition)
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780802454546 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Moody Publishers |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2010 |
| Series: | Moody Classics |
| Edition description: | New Edition |
| Pages: | 128 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.00(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.30(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Secret of Guidance
By F. B. Meyer
Moody Publishers
Copyright © 2010 The Moody Bible Institute Of ChicagoAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8024-5454-6
Chapter One
The Secret of Guidance* * *
Many children of God are so deeply exercised on the matter of guidance that it may be helpful to give a few suggestions as to knowing the way in which our Father would have us walk and the work He would have us do. The importance of the subject cannot be exaggerated; so much of our power and peace consist in knowing where God would have us be and in just being there.
The manna only falls where the cloudy pillar broods, but it is certain to be found on the sands that a few hours ago were glistening in the flashing light of the heavenly fire and that are now shadowed by the fleecy canopy of cloud. If we are precisely where our heavenly Father would have us be, we are perfectly sure that He will provide food and raiment and everything beside. When He sends His servants to Cherith, He will make even the ravens bring them food.
How much of our Christian work has been abortive because we have persisted in initiating it for ourselves, instead of ascertaining what God was doing and where He required our presence! We dream bright dreams of success. We try to command it. We call to our aid all kinds of expedients, questionable or otherwise. At last we turn back, disheartened and ashamed, like children who are torn and scratched by the brambles and soiled by the quagmire. None of this would have come about if only we had been, from the first, under God's unerring guidance. He might test us, but He would not allow us to fail.
Naturally, the child of God, longing to know his Father's will, turns to the sacred Book and refreshes his confidence by noticing how in all ages God has guided those who dared to trust Him up to the very hilt, but who at the time must have been as perplexed as we often are now. We know how Abraham left kindred and country and started, with no other guide than God, across the trackless desert to a land that he knew not. We know how for forty years the Israelites were led through the peninsula of Sinai, with its labyrinths of red sandstone and its wastes of sand. We know how Joshua, in entering the Land of Promise, was able to cope with the difficulties of an unknown region and to overcome great and warlike nations because he looked to the Captain of the Lord's hosts, who ever leads to victory. We know how, in the early church, the apostles were enabled to thread their way through the most difficult questions and to solve the most perplexing problems, laying down principles that will guide the church to the end of time; and this because it was revealed to them as to what they should do and say, by the Holy Spirit.
The Promises for Guidance Are Unmistakable
Psalm 32:8: "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go." This is God's distinct assurance to those whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered, and who are more quick to notice the least hint of His will than horse or mule are to feel the bit.
Proverbs 3:6: "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct [or make plain] thy paths." This is a sure word on which we may rest, if only we fulfill the previous conditions of trusting with all our heart and of not leaning to our own understanding.
Isaiah 58:11: "The Lord shall guide thee continually." It is impossible to think that He could guide us at all if He did not guide us always. The greatest events of life revolve on the smallest points, like the huge rocking-stones in the west of England. A pebble may alter the flow of a stream. The growth of a grain of mustard seed may determine the rainfall of a continent. Thus we are bidden to look for a guidance that shall embrace the whole of life in all its myriad necessities.
John 8:12: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The reference here seems to be to the wilderness wanderings, and the Master promises to be to all faithful souls, in their pilgrimage to the City of God, what the cloudy pillar was to the children of Israel on their march to the Land of Promise.
These are but samples. The vault of Scripture is inlaid with thousands such, that glisten in their measure as the stars that guide the wanderer across the deep. Well may the prophet sum up the heritage of the servants of the Lord by saying of the Holy City, "All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children" (Isaiah 54:13).
And yet it may appear to some tried and timid hearts as if everyone mentioned in the Word of God was helped, but they are left without help. They seem to have stood before perplexing problems, face to face with life's mysteries, eagerly longing to know what to do, but no angel has come to tell them and no iron gate has opened to them in the prison-house of circumstances.
Some lay the blame on their own stupidity. Their minds are blunt and dull. They cannot catch God's meaning, which would be clear to others. They are so nervous of doing wrong that they cannot learn clearly what is right. "Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant?" (Isaiah 42:19). Yet, how do we treat our children? One child is so bright-witted and so keen that a little hint is enough to indicate the way; another was born dull, and he cannot take in your meaning quickly. Do you only let the clever one know what you want? Will you not take the other upon your knee and make clear to him the directions that baffle? Does not the distress of the tiny child, who longs to know that he may immediately obey, weave an almost stronger bond than that which binds you to the rest? Oh, weary, perplexed, and stupid children! Believe in the great love of God, and cast yourselves upon it, sure that He will come down to your ignorance, and suit Himself to your needs, and will "gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young" (Isaiah 40:11).
There are certain practical directions that we must attend to in order that we may be led into the mind of the Lord.
Our Motives Must Be Pure
"When thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light" (Luke 11:34). You have been much in darkness lately, and perhaps this passage will point up the reason. Your eye has not been singly focused. There has been some obliquity of vision-a spiritual squint-and this has hindered you from discerning indications of God's will, which otherwise would have been as clear as noonday.
We must be very careful in judging our motives, searching them as the detectives at the doors of the English House of Commons search each stranger who enters. When by the grace of God we have been delivered from grosser forms of sin, we are still liable to the subtle working of self in our holiest and loveliest hours. It poisons our motives. It breathes decay on our fairest fruit-bearing. It whispers seductive flatteries into our pleased ears. It turns the spirit from its holy purpose as the masses of iron on ocean steamers deflect the needle of the compass from the pole.
So long as there is some thought of personal advantage, some idea of acquiring the praise and commendation of men, some aim at self-aggrandizement, it will be simply impossible to find out God's purpose concerning us. The door must be resolutely shut against all these if we would hear the still small voice. All cross-lights must be excluded if we would see the Urim and Thummim stones brighten with God's "Yes" or darken with His "No."
Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the single eye and to inspire in your heart one aim alone: that which animated our Lord and enabled Him to cry to the Father as He reviewed His life, "I have glorified thee on the earth." Let this be the watchword of our lives, "Glory to God in the highest." Then our "whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, ... as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light" (Luke 11:36).
Our Will Must Be Surrendered
"My judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me" (John 5:30). This was the secret that Jesus not only practiced, but taught. In one form or another, He was constantly insisting on a surrendered will as the key to perfect knowledge. "If any man will do his will, he shall know" (John 7:17).
There is all the difference between a will that is extinguished and one that is surrendered. God does not demand that our wills should be crushed, like the sinews of a fakir's unused arms. He only asks that we should say "Yes" to Him. We ought to be as pliant to Him as the willow twig is to the practiced hand.
Many a time, as the steamer has neared the bank, have I watched the little lad take his place beneath the poop, with eye and ear fixed on the captain, waiting to shout each word he utters to the grimy engineers below; and often have I longed that my will should repeat as accurately and as promptly the words and will of God, that all the lower nature might obey.
It is for the lack of this subordination that we so often miss the guidance we seek. There is a secret controversy between our will and God's. And we shall never be right till we have let Him take, and break, and make. Oh! Do seek for that. If you cannot give, let Him take. If you are not willing, confess that you are willing to be made willing. Hand yourself over to Him to work in you, to will and to do of His own good pleasure. We must be as plastic clay, ready to take any shape that the great Potter may choose, so shall we be able to detect His guidance.
We Must Seek Information for Our Mind
This is certainly the next step. God has given us these wonderful faculties of brain-power, and He will not ignore them. In grace He does not cancel the action of any of His marvelous bestowments, but He uses them for the communication of His purposes and thoughts.
It is of the greatest importance, then, that we should feed our minds with facts, with reliable information, with the results of human experience, and (above all) with the teachings of the Word of God. It is a matter for the utmost admiration to notice how full the Bible is of biography and history, so that there is hardly a single crisis in our lives that may not be matched from those wondrous pages. There is no book like the Bible for casting a light on the dark landing of human life.
We have no need or right to run hither and thither to ask our friends what we ought to do; but there is no harm in our taking pains to gather all reliable information, on which the flame of holy thought and consecrated purpose may feed and grow strong. It is for us ultimately to decide as God shall teach us, but His voice may come to us through the voice of sanctified common sense, acting on the materials we have collected. Of course at times God may bid us act against our reason, but these times are very exceptional; and then our duty will be so clear that there can be no mistake. But for the most part God will speak in the results of deliberate consideration, weighing and balancing the pros and cons.
When Peter was shut up in prison and could not possibly extricate himself, an angel was sent to do for him what he could not do for himself; but when they had passed through a street or two of the city, the angel left him to consider the matter for himself. Thus God treats us still. He will dictate a miraculous course by miraculous methods. But when the ordinary light of reason is adequate to the task, He will leave us to act as occasion may serve.
We Must Be Much in Prayer for Guidance
The Psalms are full of earnest pleading for clear direction: "Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies" (Psalm 27:11). It is the law of our Father's house that His children shall ask for what they want. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not" (James 1:5).
In a time of change and crisis, we need to be much in prayer, not only on our knees, but in that sweet form of inward prayer, in which the spirit is constantly offering itself up to God, asking to be shown His will; soliciting that His will may be impressed upon the surface of our spirit as the heavenly bodies photograph themselves on prepared paper. Wrapped in prayer like this, the trustful believer may tread the deck of the ocean steamer night after night, sure that He who points the stars in their courses will not fail to direct the soul that has no other aim than to do His will.
One good form of prayer at such a juncture is to ask that doors may be shut, that the way be closed, and that all enterprises that are not according to God's will may be arrested at their very beginning. Put the matter absolutely into God's hands from the outset, and He will not fail to shatter the project and defeat the aim that is not according to His holy will.
We Must Wait the Gradual Unfolding of God's Plan in Providence
God's impressions within and His Word without are always corroborated by His providence around, and we should quietly wait until these three focus into one point.
Sometimes it looks as if we are bound to act. Everyone says we must do something, and, indeed, things seem to have reached so desperate a pitch that we must. Behind are the Egyptians; right and left are inaccessible precipices; before is the sea. It is not easy at such times to stand still and see the salvation of God, but we must. When Saul compelled himself and offered sacrifice because he thought that Samuel was too late in coming, he made the great mistake of his life.
God may delay to come in the guise of His providence. There was delay before Sennacherib's host lay like withered leaves around the Holy City. There was delay before Jesus came walking on the sea in the early dawn or hastened to raise Lazarus. There was delay before the angel sped to Peter's side on the night before his expected martyrdom. God waits long enough to test patience of faith, but not a moment behind the extreme hour of need. "The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry" (Habakkuk 2:3).
It is remarkable how God guides us by circumstances. At one moment the way may seem utterly blocked, and then shortly afterward some trivial incident occurs, which might not seem much to others, but which to the keen eye of faith speaks volumes. Sometimes these signs are repeated in different ways in answer to prayer. They are not haphazard results of chance, but the opening up of circumstances in the direction in which we should walk. And they begin to multiply as we advance toward our goal, just as lights do as we near a populous town when darting through the land by night express.
Sometimes men sigh for an angel to come to point them their way; that simply indicates that as yet the time has not come for them to move. If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do. And when the time comes for action, circumstances, like glowworms, will sparkle along your path. You will become so sure that you are right, when God's three witnesses concur, that you could not be surer though an angel beckoned you on.
The circumstances of our daily life are to us an infallible indication of God's will when they concur with the inward promptings of the Spirit and with the Word of God. So long as they are stationary, wait. When you must act, they will open, and a way will be made through oceans and rivers, wastes and rocks.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Secret of Guidance by F. B. Meyer Copyright © 2010 by The Moody Bible Institute Of Chicago. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Foreword 7
Biographical Introduction 15
1 The Secret of Guidance 19
2 Where Am I Wrong? 33
3 The Secret of Christ's Indwelling 45
4 Fact! Faith! Feeling! 57
5 Burdens, and What to Do with Them 75
6 How to Bear Sorrow 87
7 In the Secret of His Presence 99
8 The Fullness of the Spirit 111