Following God’s Guidance

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you” (Psalm 32:8-9, NKJV).

In these two brief verses, God teaches us a valuable lesson about guidance. We can build great faith by knowing he is willing to lead and guide us in everything.

Yet the Word of God says a person may be a believer who enjoys all the spiritual benefits of being a child of God and yet remains a stubborn mule when it comes to submitting to his ways of guiding and leading. God said of Israel, “For forty years, I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know my ways’” (Psalm 95:10).

Think of what God essentially said here: “After forty long years of receiving my tender guidance and miraculous deliverances, they still don’t know how I work. They never try to understand my principles of guidance. To them, my leadings are just a series of unrelated blessings, nothing more than open doors and escapes from crises.”

Personally, I am tired of being a mule-headed Christian with no understanding of God’s leading. I do not want God to say of me, “Yes, David was forgiven. He prayed, and I delivered him from trouble, time after time. Indeed, I led him in wonderful ways, and my hand was upon him. But he never had a settled knowledge of my ways in his heart.”

Beloved, don’t make the Lord stern with you in his leadings. Don’t be like the mule without understanding. God does not want to bark directions at his children or force us to do his bidding. God wants people who know him well enough to move at his slightest urging.