"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you."
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to guide the people of God
through the uncertainties and dangers and duties of this life to
their home in Heaven. When He led the children of Israel out of
Egypt, by the hand of Moses, He guided them through the waste,
mountainous wilderness, in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire
by night, thus assuring their comfort and safety. And this was
but a type of His perpetual spiritual guidance of His people.
"But how may I certainly know what God wants of me?" is sure to
become the earnest and, oftentimes, the agonising cry of every
humble and devoutly zealous young Christian. "How may I know the
guidance of the Holy Spirit?" is asked again and again.
1. It is well for us to get it fixed in our minds that we need to
be guided always by Him. A ship was wrecked on a rocky coast far
out of the course that the captain thought he was taking. On
examination, it was found that the compass had been slightly
deflected by a bit of metal that had lodged in the box.
But the voyage of life on which we each one sail is beset by as
many dangers as the ship at sea, and how shall we surely steer
our course to our heavenly harbour without Divine guidance? There
is a wellnigh infinite number of influences to deflect us from
the safe and certain course. We start out in the morning, and we
know not what person we may meet, what paragraph we may read,
what word may be spoken, what letter we may receive, what subtle
temptation may assail or allure us, what immediate decisions we
may have to make during the day, that may turn us almost
imperceptibly, but none the less surely, from the right way. We
need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
2. We not only need Divine guidance, but we may have it. God's
word assures us of this. Oh! how my heart was comforted and
assured one morning by these words: "And the Lord shall guide
thee continually" (Isaiah lviii. 11). Not occasionally, not
spasmodically, but "continually." Hallelujah! The Psalmist says:
"This God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our Guide even
unto death" (Psalm xlviii. 14). Again, he says: "The meek will
He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way" (Psalm
xxv. 9). And again, "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the
way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye" (Psalm
xxxii. 8). And again, "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel"
(Psalm lxxiii. 24). Jesus said of the Holy Spirit: "Howbeit when
He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all
truth" (John xvi. 13). And Paul wrote: "As many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans viii. 14).
These Scriptures establish the fact that the children of God may
be guided always by the Spirit of God.
"Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land!
I am weak, but Thou art mighty:
Hold me with Thy powerful hand."