A Heart to Be Led

Today's God-thoughts come from Isaiah 57:14-21. Such a contrast between his tone here and the tone of the previous verses! This is such a great promise! What are you hearing here?

God: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly. . . . I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him. . ." (v. 15, 18)

The healing God promises here is so real and miraculous! The grace of God is amazing! What especially jumps out at me right now is his promise to guide me in my life journey. I will receive God's guidance if my heart is open and truly seeking his will.

This can be a nebulous concept, and one of the more difficult things about God to experience. There isn't any magic formula to listening for God's voice. The role I have is to humble myself and invite him to tell me whatever I need to hear. His written Word provides the framework and the principles. His Holy Spirit provides the inner leading to personalize it to my own life and circumstances. The variable that I control is whether I have a real heart to know and do God's will. Am I teachable? Is my will really surrendered and submitted to his? Do I realize how I've messed things up when I've asserted my own will in the past? And, of course, do I take the time to listen?

God doesn't usually speak to us out of burning bushes. Receiving his guidance isn't about erasing your mind and expecting him to just download everything I need to know. Receiving his guidance is a partnership, using the mind he blessed me with but decisively putting it under the Holy Spirit's guidance. When I do that, it's often hard to distinguish between what are my own thoughts and what are his. But that is because through my submitted heart, the two have become one. He will help me shape my thoughts and my evaluations of the alternatives before me.

And then there are other times when I know that it's his guidance because he's telling me to do something I would never choose to do on my own volition. In Scripture, God's guidance to the people we read about was very often not what they would have thought of or desired. He loves to stretch our faith and build our character!

Heavenly Father, I surrender my will to yours. I know that you are far wiser than me, powerful enough to accomplish whatever your will is, and that you have my good and the good of others as your agenda. Please guide me. Please lead me forward. Let every step I take be aligned with your desires for me. Amen.

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