Seeking Guidance

W. Carl Ketcherside

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     One of the more serious problems which arise for those who believe that the Spirit dwells in God's children as a divine helper, as I certainly do, is how one may seek the guidance of the Spirit, and ascertain the will of God for his own life. Any number of letters have come to me upon this subject. I feel obligated to face up to it, but what I say in response is in no sense authoritarian or dogmatic.

     What I can do is simply to outline my personal approach, but this may not be at all valid for another individual. No two of us are of the same intellectual, temperamental or spiritual caliber, and the Holy Spirit must not be "boxed in" by my own experience. We cannot confine him to a specific methodology for he can be very versatile in meeting our several needs. I do not quarrel with brethren who take a different tack. I do not even resent those who deny that the Holy Spirit furnishes them any assistance at all. The more I am around them the more I suspect that they are correct.

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     For several years, after becoming aware of the real presence of the Spirit in the tent in which I dwell, I have been trying, although with some little difficulty caused by traditional training, to live a more surrendered life, to "hang loose" and recognize that I am cradled in divine love. "Around me and beneath me are the everlasting arms." This has preserved me from frantic pushing and shoving, and has made for inner tranquillity which is a tremendous comfort.

     Since I believe that nothing occurs in my life which is outside of God's province or purpose for me, I simply look for His will in whatever happens. It has been an interesting thing to see how he can turn some of my witless mistakes into occasions for good. This has served to reassure me that he rules in every avenue and facet of life and is never anymore "the One outside."

     A number of brethren whom I love have developed a rather simplistic approach, or so it seems to me. When confronted with a decision they open up the Bible and the first passage they read is assumed to contain the answer to their problem. They say, "God gave me a scripture" for an answer. I am not judgmental in such cases. I simply say I cannot rest my own confidence in such a method.

     To say the least, it appears to me there is an element of chance involved, a thing which they would vehemently deny. I would not think of satisfying a need by opening up a Sears Roebuck catalog and ordering the first item which struck my glance. And I do not feel that God revealed truth in such a way as he would have had to do in order to make such a method valid. My own life is too complex and multiform to reach a definite conclusion by this type of procedure.

     1. I seek to immerse myself in the total revelation of God. I regard the Bible as containing that revelation in promise, prophecy, precept and perfection. I receive it "not as the word of men, but as what it truly is, the very word of God at work in you who hold the faith" (1 Thess. 2:13). I am persuaded that my life decisions should be made in the context of the whole revelation, rather than in an isolated passage of sacred scripture. So I read the word with a sincere love for the truths it contains.

     2. I eagerly and fervently pray for guidance in specific and immediate problems. I no longer shoot a scatter-load of prayer phrases or conventional clichés in the general direction of heaven. Instead I "zero in" on God. I get "on the beam" and aim for a landing on the proper runway. And I keep on praying, persisting and continuing until I feel I have the answer and the light within turns green and I have the right of way.

     I not only ask, but I seek and knock. If I get desperate I kick on the door. It isn't that I doubt that God is inside or that I think he is deaf. Nor is it that I think that he doesn't know I'm outside. Rather my faith and sincerity are at stake. I take quite literally the question Jesus proposed, "Will not God vindicate his chosen, who cry out to him day and night, while he listens patiently to them?" As Paul put it, "Let hope keep you joyful; in trouble stand firm; persist in prayer" (Romans 12:12).

     3. I also seek the advice of other saints. "In a multitude of counsellors there is wisdom," says the wise monarch. If it is true that we are to advise and admonish one another, certainly we ought to hearken to one another. As a member of the community of the reconciled I do not want to go it alone. I need the advice of others. Like Paul, I do not always heed the advice of good and well-meaning disciples (Acts 21:4,5), but it would surprise you how many "good" articles I have thrown in the wastebasket when others have warned me against printing them.

     4. I seek to live in the shadow of God's umbrella of grace all of the time and abide in the tent of the Spirit. This makes it possible to breathe the spiritual atmosphere constantly and thus reach decisions in the proper frame of reference for my whole being. This obviates

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the need of making such decisions as isolated features of my life.

     5. I relate my entire being to the dynamic of love, injecting it into every life situation. Even if a thing is right and proper, I discard it as a possibility if it requires a loveless attitude or will cause another to stumble or fall out of the way.

     When I have related my problem to the word of God and sought the counsel of heaven, when I have consulted brethren of reputation and made sure that I am willing to pursue the more excellent way, and when I have prayed until my inner consciousness is directed to a certain activity, or in a certain direction. I take it that this is the will of God for me and I pursue that course.

     I believe that God can move in and through the fully surrendered life and I want him to make me and mould me after his will, while I am waiting yielded and still. If we ask him he will assist us. If we trust him he will not turn us away. We are taught "not to place reliance on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead" (2 Cor. 1:9). That is why I propose to "pray on every occasion in the power of the Spirit" (Ephesians 6: 18).