The Spirit of God directed my attention to a verse this morning. It seemed so straightforward and simple that, honestly, I wondered why He prompted me to dig. But dig I did! And oh my word!!! Check this out!
“This is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever”. (Psalm 48:14)
The Hebrew word for guide (nāhaḡ) is in the imperfect (it’s a continuing action). (Nāhaḡ) means is to lead on, to guide on.
I sat in that for a minute trying to discern the difference between leading and guiding. My thoughts were kinda all over the place (surprise! haha). So I looked up both words (lead, guide) in the dictionary. Ok. Hang on to your hat. This is where it gets exciting!
LEAD is to go at the head of, be first among, have margin over, to guide on a way by going in advance.
GUIDE refers to one that leads and exhibits and explains points of interest. To guide is to direct, supervise, and influence.
When I considered those definitions, what came to mind was a tour guide. If I was going to a foreign city, I would definitely seek the help of a tour guide. The guide would know interesting facts about the city that I didn’t know. He would point out and explain things about points of interest along the way. I’m sure that, because of the explanations and stories he told, in the future, I would think differently about those sights as I remember what the tour guide shared.You know what?!!
THAT DESCRIBES JESUS!!!
Think of how Jesus was with His disciples. As they walked along together, Jesus was certainly in the lead, but as He led, He guided them. He would point to lilies of the field and teach them not to worry about what they would wear. He would point to a field ready for harvest and teach them that the harvest is plentiful and workers are necessary to bring in a harvest of souls. I could go on and on, but I think you get what I’m saying. Jesus gave deeper meaning, spiritual meaning, to ordinary things as the disciples walked along, following His lead. Then when the disciples would see those sights in the future, they would remember what spiritual insights Jesus had shared.
Ok. Let’s go back to the tour guide example one more time. What would happen if I had a tour guide but was too busy talking to my fellow tourists to listen to what he was saying? What would I learn? What would I have to remember about the tour? Nothing. I would miss so much!
Here’s the truth of the matter. We are tourists here on earth because our citizenship is in heaven. God hasn’t left us to walk alone. He sent Jesus, God with us. He has placed His Spirit in us to guide us Home, teaching us along the way. As believers, we have been called “to follow”. As God goes before us, we are responsible for following. As He teaches and explains, we are responsible for listening and learning.
With that being said, how are things with you?
Let’s pause and take inventory for a few minutes.
Are you a follower of God? (If not, please reach out to me. I’d love for you to be on this journey with us.)
If you are a follower, are you allowing your Tour Guide to take the lead or are you choosing to walk ahead of Him because He’s taking too long at one particular place along the way?
If you’re keeping in step with the Tour Guide, are you allowing the surrounding voices and noises of life to drown out what the Guide is saying or are you really listening, really learning?
To think that this morning, this one little verse, that I thought so simple and straightforward, was used by God to teach me more about Himself and my response to Him. I love Him so much!!!
“God will GUIDE us forever.”