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Sunday, March 6, 2016

A little pond, leaves and understanding God's leading in circumstances

Psalm 143:10 "Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground."

I can recall growing up as a young boy and walking over to the pond near our home. Every autumn I enjoyed walking up to that pond and observing the leaves fall onto its glassy surface. At one end of the pond was a small drain that emptied the pond into a small creek that ran alongside our property. I marveled at how leaves at one end of the pond would begin to face the same direction relative to that drain. No matter whence they came nor the direction they had been facing when they landed on the water; that drain and its tug on the water's surface orientated all the leaves in its direction.

Sometimes when we are aiming to discern God's will as Christians, its helpful to consider the pattern of our circumstances. All secondary means of weighing out God's will - like circumstances - must be sifted through the pages of scripture. The Bible stands as the infallible and inerrant source of measures and standards, since it is God's will written and revealed. 

As the Psalmist requested Divine guidance, He pleaded that the Holy Spirit guide him on level ground. Manytimes in the circumstances of our lives, certain indicators can be used by the Holy Spirit in reorientating our lives. Oftentimes life is not like the glassy surface of a little pond but moreso like a roiling sea of activity. We know of course that it is in those tulmultuous times that God steps into the sea of our circumstances and bids us to come. Just as Jesus commanded the sea of Galilee to obey His voice and it became calm, God can take chaos and bring it to order. What was broken is mended. What was formerly an uncertain direction is made clearer.

What are some of those indicators God uses in our circumstances? Let me lay out real quick "four p's":

1). People
2). Problems
3). Appointments
4). Promptings

With an open Bible and eyes closed in prayer, we can begin the process of surveying what is really going on in our lives. God is ever at work. Our issue is that we often fail to recognize what may very well be His ways of guidance. Scripture is our anchor, our compass and our map. The Holy Spirit is our internal companion Who is Sovereignly in union with the Father and the Son in our circumstances. Today as you consider your circumstances, take stock of the pattern and overall drift of direction. 

Ask the Lord to show you in His word and through prayer what and where He is leading you next. As you pause and look, you will see the "leaves" of the details of your life pointing in an overall pattern. Ask the following questions: What people has he brought into your life? What problems or challenges have you faced lately that has driven you to pray? What Divine appointments demonstrate that there are no coincidences, but Providence guiding you through this season in your life? What promptings or impulses have you not been able to ignore, but instead keep coming up on the inside?

God has been at work, you and I just need to listen, be ready to obey and then do what it is He is calling us to do.