Day 185

DAY 185

FOLLOWING GOD’S LEAD

Job 28 & 29 and Acts 13:1-25

Throughout the Book of Job I have had a sense that Job is following God’s lead. He seems confident that, while he does not claim perfection, he does have a sense of “following God’s lead.”

As you have read Job, do you get that sense? Amid the wrangling from his three visitors, do you get a feeling that Job, rather than shaking his fist at God, has been saying all along that he is following Him?

He has been speaking for some four chapters (26-30). He will continue this long speech into chapter 31 and we will hear from him only one more time. Chapter 26 actually begins with sarcasm, “How you have helped him who has no power” Chapter 27 continues Job’s declaration that he is trying to follow God, “As God lives…as long as breath is in me…my lips will not speak falsehood.” In Chapter 28 Job muses about the source of wisdom, for that is what they have been seeking, wisdom and understanding about Job’s plight. Job points out that the sea does not know wisdom, even death says “we have heard rumor of it (that is wisdom)”. Where is it? “The beginning of it is the fear of God” says Job. That is interesting because Job has been consistently accused of not fearing God. In Chapters 29 and 30 Job recounts his plight; how good his life had been and now how miserable it is.

Following God; am I, are you? That is the question we ask ourselves. Job thinks he has been, and in the New Testament we read “While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said…”

Sometimes followers of Jesus will say, “I am following the Holy Spirit.” Some people are very “wired” for this type of thinking and talk. For others who are followers of Jesus, and who are not “wired” for this type of thinking and talk, such a comment is confusing.

Judging whether or not you are following God’s lead, His Holy Spirit, is what we want to be doing. In the earliest days of the Church it was all new. How could they know whether they were crazy or following God? The answer is that the Holy Spirit led them.

Consider for a moment their travels. They were “led” to Seleucia, then Cyprus, then Salamis, and Paphos, and Perga, and then Antioch. These folks do not own cars, and they were not racking up frequent flyer miles. Yet the moved from place to place, as unsettling as that can be, all because they were following God’s lead.

“Following God’s lead” is such a nice sounding phrase, another word that describes it is “obedience.” In all their travels and in all Job’s life obedience to God was key. So how is it we are “led by God?”

First and foremost God’s Holy Spirit will not lead you to violate His Word. This is one reason why it is so important for us to know the Scriptures. It was why it was so hard for the new Christians to sort out if they had to follow all the Jewish dietary laws and get circumcised (we have been reading about this in Acts chapters 10 and 11.) They had to ask themselves, “Are we violating God’s Law?”  It was why Peter hearing God’s voice that all “was clean” and remembering Jesus saying the same was critical (Mark 7:19 – you have read this). They wanted to be in accord with God.

Another key part of knowing God’s Holy Spirit is leading is found in our reading today, “They were worshipping and fasting.” Worshipping means they were in community. Being a Christian is not a “Long Ranger” activity. One person should not simply say, “The Holy Spirit is leading me” without seeking the Counsel of the Saints, the Church. They were also fasting, i.e. praying and fasting. In total they were earnestly seeking God’s guidance. The Scripture, Prayer, the Counsel of the Church, Fasting, Worship…it is all part of knowing if it is the Holy Spirit leading, or something else.

Nicky Gumbel, an English Pastor who is the author of the Alpha Course, describes following the Holy Spirit as the process of the “Five CS’s” – Command of Scripture, Compelling Spirit (which come from prayer and fasting), Common Sense, Counsel of the Saints, and Circumstantial Signs – and he says that these are in descending order and one does not override the other. Not to be sarcastic, but looking in the sky and seeing a cloud formation in some shape that is “leading you” when never having studied Scripture, or prayed, or fasted, or sought counsel from the Church is a formula for disaster.

I pray that you and I will constantly seek and be lead by God’s Spirit.