Our Guides in This Life

Years ago, well before smartphones and their handy maps, a group of friends and I took a road trip to Texas to see the Alamo. One of the guys on our team offered to navigate for us. “San Antonio’s my hometown, and I’d love to be your guide,” he said. Once we arrived in San Antonio, though, things got a little confusing. We were driving and driving, then a few of us noticed we had passed the same store three times.

“Hey, aren’t we going in circles?” someone asked. “No, no, we’re getting close,” my friend assured us.

Hours passed. We found ourselves in a rough part of town, then in a massive traffic jam, then going in circles again. Finally, someone said to my friend, “Hey, I thought you knew your way around. You said this was your hometown.”

“It is,” he answered, “but we moved away when I was two.”

Obviously, my friend wasn’t our ideal guide. He had good intentions but no idea where to lead us and very few skills to navigate the problems in front of us successfully. He represents the kind of guide we may think we want in life because they feel familiar, and they tell us what we want to hear. All too often, though, these guides end up leading us in circles instead of into the rich and satisfying life Jesus designed for us. God doesn’t lead his people that way.

Christ told his followers, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:9-10, ESV).

Not only will Jesus always speak truthfully into your life, he will also always guide you toward growth and further restoration. Sometimes that’s painful, or it’s in a direction you don’t think you want to go. Sometimes you may feel like God is leading you in circles. The reality is that he is simply not letting you bypass something you need for your journey. Unlike the guides of this world, you can always trust his guiding hand.