Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the Christian life to understand is how God leads his children. At least it has been for me. How does a Christian make decisions? How does one discern the best from…the best? These kinds of questions weigh heavy on my mind as we approach 18 months of wandering from church to church.
I must admit that for a very long time, I thought it was just a matter of receiving a special revelation of some kind. I’ve been a member of churches in which most people talk of “receiving a word,” “God told me,” “feeling the Spirit’s leading,” “getting a sign,” etc. That kind of talk is very mystical and subjective, now that I think about it. I can think of two reasons why this kind of talking is detrimental: it glorifies the person rather than God and it diminishes the authority and sufficiency of the Bible.
First, “Special revelation” talk gives the listener the impression that the person talking is super-spiritual or has some kind of special connection with God. I don’t believe anyone can have a “special” connection with God. If it is true that the ground is level at the cross, then no one has a more special relationship with God than another. While it may seem that some individuals have more answered prayer or more blessed lives than others, I do not believe this indicates that God has favorites. “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe” (Deuteronomy 10:17). Rather, God does what He is pleased to do and He acts independently of man. This is the essence of His name, as He declared it to Moses, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exodus 33:19). The Christian who recognizes that God acts independently of man will give God more glory for His grace during the good times in her life and, likewise, will cast herself upon God’s grace for His glory when it seems all is lost.
Second, God’s word is not highly regarded when believers put more stock in a “special revelation.” For example, I have a friend who decided she was supposed to do something based on a literal sign she read while driving down the highway. My friend, who loves God, needed guidance as to whether or not she was to leave her current church to serve in another one. The highway sign read, “Change.” She took that as her “special word from the Lord,” and she moved her membership. I am afraid that many times, we look for the message we want until we find it, whether it be in the Bible or not.
So, how does this relate to our church search? I’m still trying to figure that out. I know it is God’s will that we participate in a local assembly and enjoy all the benefits of being a part of the Body of Christ. That is not where my question lies. My question is more about how to know which one we are to join. Last night, Karl and I had one of our more-than-an-hour-long discussions about this and the water is still as muddy as ever. J.I. Packer writes in Knowing God, “The work of God in [“vocational” choices] is to incline first our judgement and then our whole being to the course which, of all the competing alternatives, he has marked out as best suited for us, and for his glory and the good of others through us.” We know God has a plan. We believe that this long search is part of the plan. It must be, otherwise it wouldn’t be happening. We just need to know, out of “all the competing alternatives, which is the one he has marked out as best suited for us, and for his glory and the good of others through us.”
Packer offers six common pitfalls with God’s guidance getting through:
- Unwillingness to think. “O that they were wise…that they would consider” (Deut 32:29). I’m beginning to wonder if we aren’t thinking too much.
- Unwillingness to think ahead. “O that they were wise…that they would consider their latter end!” (Deut 32:29). Again, we’ve gone around and around discussing all possibilities and their outcomes.
- Unwillingness to take advice. “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice” (Prov 12:15). We aren’t unwilling to take advice. Just this week I received godly counsel (a bit of a reprimand) from a friend regarding our long search.
- Unwillingness to suspect oneself. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). Please don’t think for a moment that I haven’t thought I was completely wrong about everything. I am highly suspicious of myself.
- Unwillingness to discount personal magnetism. “Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1 Thess 5:21). We have yet to meet a pastor who so wooed us that we felt like we put him on a pedestal. I am far more guilty of doing things like this than Karl anyway. The pastors I’ve put on a pedestal live hundreds of miles from here.
- Unwillingness to wait. There are any number of verses to quote here. I like Psalm 37:7 which says, “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.” I can think of many Psalms that encourage patience and waiting on the Lord. Packer says, “When in doubt, do nothing, but continue to wait on God. When action is needed, light will come.” I’m ready for some light!
I have learned that there are no simple answers. At this point, I don’t think we’ve made a mistake. However, if we have, I still believe in God’s grace to cover everything!
God can bring good out of the extremes of our own folly; God can restore the years that the locust has eaten. It is said that those who never make mistakes never make anything; certainly, [Abraham, Moses, David, Jonah] made mistakes, but through their mistakes God taught them to know his grace and to cleave to him in a way that would never have happened otherwise. Is your trouble a sense of failure? the knowledge of having made some ghastly mistake? Go back to God; his restoring grace waits for you. –J.I. Packer
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Leslie Wiggins 
12 responses to “Guidance”
Boy do I ever love your thoughtful posts! And I COMPLETELY agree, I don’t believe that God speaks directly to people anymore. He speaks to us through his Word, and not by direct revelation. I think direct revelation can lead people to believe that somehow they don’t have an “in” with God and are therefore not as righteous as others. His WORD will guide us, it’s all we need! Thanks again!Janet
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PS- I also loved J.I. Packer’s book- “Knowing God”. Our young people’s also studied it last year!
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Leslie, you and your family are in my prayers. I have often thought of you guys and your situation as it relates to ours, here. We did not spend nearly as long looking for a church home as you guys, but even in that short period of time we certainly felt the weight of the decision. Of course (as you so beautifully stated)God’s grace certainly covered everything and we are blessed to be in a gospel centered church. It’s exciting to watch from afar and see how God unfolds His plan for your family and your church home. Prayers-Kim
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Thank you, Kim!
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I was just thinking about you the other night, and wondering if you had found a church yet. I totally agree with everything you’ve said here in this post. I think I’ve told you before that we looked around for about a year, got lonely and frustrated, and just picked one we liked. There aren’t a lot of options around here so we chose what seemed to be the best of the bunch. Now that we’re moving, I’m not so worried about it, but there were times when we questioned our decision.
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Guidance…this is a good topic. I agree with what you have said here. God shows us His will through scripture…if it is not mentioned in scripture,then we have some freedom to make decisions after much pray and seeking,trusting in God’s providence in our lives.When looking for a church,there are some biblical principles to adhere to…there is a wonderful sermon on this by John Mac…I’ll try to find it.You already know our story. We know the trials of trying to find a truly God Centered church– it can be difficult. I truly believe it is hard to find one because men are seeking to have their ears tickled and have gathered ear ticklers,instead of expositors of the scripture….this would be the most important thing to us in finding a church…how do they view God’s Word. Is the church God centered or man centered. I know you already know these things….I am praying for you. I know how difficult this can be. I’m going to try and find out from our church leadership,if they know of a church in your area….I haven’t had a chance to yet.Kim
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I found this very good article on finding a church./www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/newchur.htmThis not by John MacArthur,but someone in his church,I believe.Have you read Jay Adams book on guidance?
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I really appreciate all the encouraging comments from you guys! Thank you.
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Great post Leslie. I remember when I was in college people saying to me about God’s will and saying “oh, you’ll just KNOW” or “God will give you a sign”. Then I heard a talk on guidance which was excellent, though what stood out to me was the last sentence “don’t forget, God also gave you common sense!”….how true, I love that Packer challenges us to THINK.Thanks for this.
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I was just wondering how your church search was going.Great thoughts on guidance. I love the quote at the end from Packer.
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You know, the really difficult part for me about still looking for a church is the feeling that we should just go ahead and decide “something.” The problem we have when we get discouraged and I say “let’s just choose” is that we really don’t have a great choice.The one church we are leaning toward has a really great pastor – not especially a magnetic personality, but a thoughtful expositor of the Scripture. Unfortunately, the church body itself has some issues, and there is an obvious divide that is observable to us after a handful of visits. If we didn’t have children, it probably wouldn’t be an issue, but I am wary of subjecting them to an environment where a church split seems to be a strong possibility. Regrettably, none of the other churches we visited had pastors who really seemed to be committed to expository preaching, and we’ve visited more than 20 of them, in multiple denominations, sizes, and shapes. I guess we’re gunshy and afraid of making the wrong choice.
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Hello – I am new to reading you, but enjoying it a lot. I don’t know if you have decided on a church since you posted this, but I wanted to say a word of encouragement anyway. My husband and I have moved a good bit in our 5 and a half year s of marriage, and thus, have been a part of several different churches – all Baptist. We are currently blessed beyond measure to be a part of a small, but truly God-centered, whole-of-scripture preaching, expository church here in Oregon, although I should say that until we became a part of this church, we had only knew a small part of what we were missing. Now I come away from nearly every service thanking God for putting us in a church that is truly centered around scripture and Christ’s work on the cross.That being said, I have been a part of less healthy churches in the past – and I know that God had placed me there for that time of my life. In the past I would have encouraged someone like you to find a church where B&W issues lined up and ask yourself, “can I serve here?” If the answer was yes, then I would have said to join that church. But I have learned to take church membership much more seriously, and after my the growth I have experienced in my current church over the past two years, I am not sure I can agree with that anymore. Now I realize there are a lot more B&W than I used to understand! =)Are you familiar with Mark Dever’s book “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church”? If not, I highly recommend it. Thanks for your blog!Loraena
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