Lead me Lord!

Man considers self-willed life as freedom. But wisdom cries out, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Prov 14:12). Therefore, "Do not depend on your own understanding. Seek God's will in all you do, and He will direct your paths" (Prov 3:5). More often than we think what we seek in prayer is God's endorsement of our own plans. We think that once we mention our plans and desires in prayer, they are automatically sanctioned by the Almighty. We then go about launching our programmes boastfully. The Bible condemns this kind of life in the strongest possible terms: "Your life is like the morning fog-it's here a little while, then it's gone. What you ought to say is: If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that" (Js 4:13-16). We should speak thus with a godly fear. We are at times so obsessed with our dreams and pursuits that we idolize them. We feel that our life is meaningless unless we get them. But we must realise that we will miss the perfect will of God and settle down for His permissive will only. God will allow us, like He let Balaam, to go our own way and face the consequences. The very first question of Paul after his conversion was, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" (Acts 9:6). We will miss God's will all through our life if we don't deal with our spirit of independence quite early. Blessed are those who understand even the wink of the Lord and walk accordingly in faith (Psa 32:8b). Unless we come to a state where there's no need for bit and bridle to control and guide us, we cannot fully appropriate the blessings of God's promise in Psalm 32:8, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go!" Though Christ had the power and authority to act on His own He stripped Himself off them and committed Himself to the will of the Father, saying, "Behold I have come to do Your will, O God." So He never deviated from what His Father had designed for Him. A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) declared, "Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God, and he is instantly free!" How true! Fleeing from self-rule and falling into the reign of God is true freedom! It is under the authority of Christ we can enjoy perfect liberty. That's what Jesus meant when He said, "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed!" (Jn 8:36). I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on; I loved to choose and see my path; But now lead Thou me on! (John H. Newman, 1801-1890, written while sailing)