Terms of The New Covenant Part 15 - Holy Spirit SatNav

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. John 16:12-13

Guidance is a big issue for many Christians.

I know the plans I have for you. Jer 25:9

This well known verse is often quoted to people seeking guidance. My reaction has sometimes been, "well, I wish He would tell me."

Job's Comforters 
It's easy to trot out this passage and others like it when someone else is in the midst of confusion. "All things work together for good," we say to the friend who has had the proverbial rug pulled from under their feet.

All sorts of things crowd our minds when we face difficulties - what should I do, why doesn't God do something, where did I go wrong? We think we've missed God's will somewhere along the line and our current experiences are the result of that.

It strikes me that the way we "comfort" one another is often not dissimilar to the way Job's so-called friends treated him. Broadly speaking it amounted to, "you've brought this on yourself, repent and everything will be alright again."

Paralysed
Sometimes the fear of making a mistake, of stepping outside of the will of God and attracting the wrath of God causes us to become so paralysed we don't do anything.

We believe the corollary of the words of Job's friends, that if we make a mistake God will punish us severely. So we don't step out in faith to try new things for God. We lay out "fleeces" and we wait for confirmations from outside sources.

It is true that our God is a jealous God who can be angry. But His anger is not with those trying to serve Him out of genuine love for Him. His anger is against those who set up idols in their lives or hearts and turn away from loving and worshipping Him.

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah to say, Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Is 30:21

This voice is the voice of the Holy Spirit. The message is clear. If you want to know the direction you should take then you have to be moving, trusting the Lord to speak up if you're headed in the wrong direction.

Character 
However, Jesus' promise is that we will be guided into truth. We often forget that God is far less concerned about whether we're in the right place geographically than He is in the state of our hearts.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Mic 6:8

Everything else is a side issue. The things we think are important to get right - which church we're in, what our ministry is to be, whether we are called to work with a particular group - all these things are meaningless if we are not walking humbly with our God.

I once heard a missionary to Bhutan, sent out by our local church, talk about the awesome beauty of her adopted homeland. "But," she said, "it doesn't appear beautiful if your heart is not right with God."