And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.(Exodus 13:21).
What does it mean when we say allow God to lead you? Someone said your brain alone is too small to run your life. Life is full of sharp unexpected turns and blind spots and only those who will allow the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God to run their lives would arrive at God’s desired destination in good time.
We have always heard that life is a journey and therefore there is always a destination. Eternally as well, there is a destination, it’s either life with God or life away from God after death and this is why the leadership of God in our lives is of paramount importance.
When we pray for guidance and leadership of the Holy Spirit and stop taking matters into our hands it doesn’t mean the journey of life would be without bumps but we can be sure that we will arrive at God’s desired destination for our lives at his own good time.
Many have taken the risk of running their life’s affairs with their limited brain alone only to end up at the wrong destination with regrets. And for many in this category, they arrived at such destructive destinations without the luxury of time and resources to make a U-turn and start afresh.
When you take matters into your hands without asking for divine leadership you run the risk of rebelling against God even if you proclaim to be intelligent and the consequences could be fatal. The Bible famously says “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death”. (Proverbs 14:12-16). Whether physical or spiritual death, both are fatal.
How do we gain valuable lessons and receive insight into God’s leading? Probably, there is no better place in the Bible to learn about God’s leading than to examine how God led the children of Israel out of Egypt and how they responded to his leadership. While there are many valuable lessons to be learnt from this study we will focus on a few vital ones.
Jehovah sees and knows: God is omnipotent and omniscient, he knows everything including the map of your life and he also has the power to get you to his desired designation.
God isn’t a distant Father who can’t relate to our struggles. To the children of Israel in Egypt he said: “ “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering”. (Exodus 3:7).
Choose God-reliance over self-reliance: You can ask and rely on God’s leadership in faith because God always has an uncommon plan and he is richly benevolent. He will therefore provide the needed resources to bless you on your Life’s journey only if you stick to his map and ask him for continual leadership.
At this, the first generation of Israelites who left Egypt failed miserably. It was so bad that they said “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” (Exodus 14:4). The consequences of their rebellion against God’s leadership was fatal and they all perished in the wilderness without making it to the promised destination having fallen out of favor with God.
Know that while the consequences of self-reliance without God brings untold hardship, God’s reliance, even with its kind of hardship serves to strengthen your faith and therefore your ability to rely on God and not your own strength and the end result being the arrival at God’s appointed destination and in God’s time.
Away from Egypt to the promised land, God did not lead the children of Israel in a way that was more attractive to their senses, which would have led to instant destruction but being omniscient he led them through a longer route. The Bible says “God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
Bible scholars say that the distance along the shorter route could have been covered in just 2 weeks but they had to go through a longer route because the shorter was not the will of God for them.
The reason why it wasn’t his will was because God saw danger ahead and like a caring father devised a safety plan. On the shorter route were the Philistines, a battle-tested and hardened nation who would have unleashed mayhem on the untested band of Israelites.
Such of many instances recorded about God’s leading regarding the children of Israel were summed up beautifully in Deuteronomy 32:11: “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. The LORD alone led him; no foreign god was with him”.
As long as Israel allowed God alone to lead them they were saved from life’s danger, they were sure of God’s perfect will for their lives and they were sure of arriving at his desired haven in his own time. But the moment they took matters into their own hands it was a matter of time before their sin and rebellion turned the table against them and their journey to a new life became the journey to their graves.
Beloved, anyone, no matter how self-sufficient or wealthy, without God’s leading is on the way to perdition. What matters in life for the self-sufficient and for the God-sufficient folk isn’t the beginning but the destination.
The Psalmist says: “I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: For the end of that man is peace”. (Psalms 37:35-36).
Beloved, are you presently on a shorter route away from God’s leading? Allow God to lead you and spare yourself the untold hardships on a shorter course. Call on God today in faith asking him to lead you to his own desired haven, and he will surely make a way for you out of the wilderness of aimlessness and waywardness.
Reading
Exodus 13:17-22
