Deo Gloria
Sermon for August 30, 2020
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Psalm 119:105
Theme: The 7 Wonders of the Spiritual World
Wonder #5 – God Guides Me!
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I don’t know what I’d do without Google maps. I mean, I have a fairly good sense of direction and usually know where I’m going; but there are times when I’d be absolutely lost without Google maps. A few years ago when I was serving in Crete, IL, there were times when I had to go and visit someone in the hospital in downtown Chicago. If you’re familiar with downtown Chicago, you know there are a lot of one way streets, and 3, 4, sometimes 5 lanes of traffic, and on ramps and off ramps and bus lanes. It can really be confusing. Boy, was I thankful I had Google maps to follow—a map that told me which roads to take, which exits to take, which streets to turn on, what lane to be in, what side of the street it was on. Without Google maps I’d probably still be driving around Chicago, trying to find the place I was looking for.
Life can be pretty confusing sometimes too. And making the right decision can be anything but easy. Of course, back when we were teenagers, we thought we had it all figured out. We had all the answers. We didn’t need advice from anyone. The older we got, though, the more we began to appreciate what a confusing place this world is, what an uncertain place this world is, how limited our experience is, how easily we could be fooled and make costly mistakes, how much we really needed a guide. The good news is we have one. Listen to just a sampling of passages from the Word of God: Psalm 32:8 – “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” Isaiah 58:11 – “The LORD will guide you always.” Proverbs 4:11 – “I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.” Psalm 23 – “He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake”(v. 3) And last but certainly not least, the words of our text from Psalm 119: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” All of these passages illustrate the 5th great wonder of the spiritual world, that our loving, trustworthy, forgiving God, the God who gave us life, also wants to guide our lives. He wants to guide us on our journey through this life so we don’t get lost, so we don’t end up taking one of the devil’s detours or dead-ends. He wants to guide us through this life and bring us safely to our eternal home in heaven.
Back in Biblical times people didn’t travel very often after dark. There weren’t any street lights back then or reflectors along the side of the road. And of course the camels did not come equipped with headlights. So if people did have to go out at night, they usually carried a lantern or a lamp of some kind. It illuminated the path for them so they could see where they were going. If you’ve done any camping, I’m sure you can relate. Imagine you’re on a camping or fishing trip up north, maybe in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. And let’s say in the middle of the night you have to go to the bathroom. Do you leave your tent without a flashlight? Of course not! They don’t have little night lights up there, lining the path to the latrine or the outhouse. And unless there’s a bright, full moon, you can’t see anything. You might stub your toe on a rock or trip over a tree root. You might get turned around in the dark and end up getting lost. You need a flashlight or one of those Coleman lanterns to guide you, to illuminate the path for you.
You and I need a guide like that for our lives as well, someone who can guide us in this dark and confusing world, someone who can point us in the right direction and help us make good and wise decisions for ourselves and our families. We need a guide who knows us personally and has our best interests in mind. We need a guide who understands us, who knows our interests and our abilities, who knows our strengths and our weaknesses. In fact, we need someone who loves us enough not only to guide us but to forgive us when we stumble and fall. And we have a guide like that. This loving and gracious God of ours, the God who made us, who knows us inside and out, the God who loves us so much that he sent his Son to be our Savior and suffer and die for our sins, the God who is preparing a place for us in heaven—he says to you and me, “Let me guide you. Let me direct you through this life.”
Maybe you’re standing at one of those crossroads this morning—a work-related crossroad. You’re considering a career change or maybe a transfer to a different city in a different state. Will it be a good move for you and your family, or one that you end up regretting? Or maybe you’re faced with some difficult executive decisions, decisions that will affect the future of your business, decisions that will affect other people and their futures. Or maybe the crossroad you’re at is relational in nature. You’ve been dating this guy or this gal for some time now. Should you continue in that relationship? Should you wait and see where it goes or should you break it off? Or maybe you’re facing some important financial decisions, buying a new home or a new car, investing for retirement? Or maybe it’s medical decisions that are weighing on your mind. Do you opt for surgery as the doctor recommends? What about treatment? Should you get a second opinion? Isn’t it good to know you have a guide, someone you can turn to, someone you can look to for reliable direction?
This morning I’d like to share with you three ways in which God gives us his guidance. The first and most important way is through his Word. I know what you’re thinking, “Here he goes again, another sermon about church attendance, another sermon about the importance of Bible study and family devotions and reading my Bible at home.” Do you know why we pastors hit on that subject so often? Do you know why? Because studies show that 80% of all Christians don’t touch their Bible from one week to the next—80%! In other words if there are 9 other people sitting around you this morning, 8 of you will not open your Bible the rest of the week, not even once. And then we wonder why we get ourselves into such jams and get our lives so messed up.
“But, Pastor,” you say, “I don’t want a Bible study. I don’t want to come to church and listen to another sermon. I want a vision. I want a letter from heaven. I want the clouds to part. I want a visit from an angel.” And I’m sure it would be nice if God did that. But the fact of the matter is God doesn’t always give us what we want, but he does give us what we need. What we need is a book. What we need is a road map. What we need is an instruction manual for life.
And God has given us one. That’s what the psalmist was talking about in the words of our text: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Believe it or not, this book contains just about all the guidance you’ll ever need for the rest of your life. Do you need guidance in character matters, how to develop things like courage and honesty and integrity? Do you need help learning how to be more patient and loving and kind, or how to control your anger or your tongue? It’s all right here. Are you looking for guidance on how to select a spouse? This book offers tremendous insight into what kind of person you should be looking for and what kind you should avoid. Do you need to know how to get a marriage that’s in trouble back on track again? Do you need to know how to resolve a relational conflict, how to speak the truth in love, how to forgive others and let go of past grudges? It’s all right here. Do you need to know how to handle money or conduct your business? Do you need guidance on how to raise your children, how to grow spiritually, how to treat your body? God tells you right here in his Word.
Sometimes I wish the guidance God gives me in this book weren’t so clear. Sometimes I wish I could say, “You know, Lord, I just sort of lost my way. There wasn’t any road map and I got confused and that’s why I ended up doing what I did.” But I can’t say that, because God gave me a road map and his directions were clear. It’s just that I chose to ignore them. I thought I knew so much better. I chose to do things my way instead of his way. And I got things so messed up. I brought pain and heartache into my own life and into the lives of others. I sinned against others, and I sinned against God. Do I guess right that you have done the same?
How grateful we can be that we have a Savior like Jesus, a Savior who paid the penalty for all our failures, all the times we ignored God’s road map and failed to follow his directions, a Savior who suffered and died for all our sins that we might be forgiven!
For his sake and our own good, let’s take out that map. Let’s read God’s divinely inspired instruction manual for life. Let’s read God’s word and study it and apply it to our daily lives. This book offers all the guidance you and I need to live effective, enjoyable, worthwhile lives here and even more importantly how to obtain forgiveness and salvation through Jesus Christ so that we might live forever in the life to come.
A second way God gives us his guidance is through the Holy Spirit. Once a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in their hearts. So in a way every Christian has an on board guidance system, one far better than Google Maps or Garmin or any other GPS system on the market. The Holy Spirit guides us in understanding the Word of God. He helps us understand this valuable map that God has given us. Likewise the Holy Spirit helps us apply God’s Word to our lives, to everyday situations. He helps us evaluate the situations we face. He helps us sort out right from wrong, good from bad. So look to the Holy Spirit for his wisdom and guidance. We do that all the time here at church. Whenever we have a meeting, we always start with prayer, asking that God would give us an extra measure of his Spirit along with his wisdom and guidance, so that the decisions we make are good and right and beneficial for the church. Is God only concerned, though, about what’s going on here at church? Is he not concerned about what’s going on in our lives, about the problems we face or the difficult decisions we have to make? Of course he is. So look to him. Pray to the Spirit for his wisdom and guidance. You can be confident that he will always lead you in the way that’s truly right and good. The apostle Paul said it this way in Galatians ch. 5: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit”(v. 25).
The third and final way God gives us his guidance is through the counsel of godly friends and leaders. In Proverbs ch. 12 it says, “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice”(v. 15). How many times hasn’t it happened? How many times haven’t people made tragic decisions, ones that had devastating consequences and brought terrible hurt and heartache to themselves and their families all because they didn’t have the humility or the maturity or the good sense to sit down with a trusted brother or sister in Christ and say, “Hey, can I run something past you? I’ve got an important decision to make. I’m considering this. What do you think? What would be your advice?” Over the years I’ve come to realize how important it is to do that, because I don’t have all the answers. I’ve learned that the world can be a rather confusing place. I’ve learned that the evil one is much more crafty than I like to give him credit for. I’ve learned that the decisions we have to make can be rather complex and challenging. So I often talk to others about them. I talk to my spouse. I talk to some of the good Christian friends I have. I talk to fellow pastors. I talk to some of the leaders here at church. And I appreciate the advice and counsel they give me, not just because I know they care about me and want what’s best for me, but because I know that’s one of the ways that God guides me.
Daniel Boone was a great explorer. It was he who explored the great wilderness of Tennessee and Kentucky and marked the trail that brought settlers west of the Appalachians. Often he wandered over vast areas of forest, living off the land, dodging arrows. Once he was asked if he had ever been lost. “No,” he replied, “I’ve never been lost; but I was a mite confused once for about three or four days.”
A lot of us are like Daniel Boone, aren’t we, not quite willing to admit that we’re lost, but maybe “a mite confused” at times? The good news, the wonderful news God has for us this morning is that we have someone to guide us, the best guide you and I could ever ask for. God himself is our guide. “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Amen.