Follow part 3
If you're going to follow somebody, you have to have faith that they know where they're going. Obedience is a trust issue. That's why verses like Isaiah 46:10, "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure," or Psalm 119:105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" are so important. In those two verses we see that God KNOWS the way to go, and SHOWS the way to go. I've heard the Bible described as a map before. And I like that. That's pretty good. But do you know what's even better than a map? A guide! Look at Isaiah 30:21, "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left." Think about that for a minute. It doesn't say IF you turn. It says WHEN you turn. It's so easy to get mixed up. To get going in the wrong direction. You think you're doing right, but you go off track. Well, when that happens God doesn't slam us for it. He is not in the punishing business. He is in the chastening and correcting business. Because what He wants, at the end of the day, is for us to walk in the way. The straight and narrow way that leads to life. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. Jesus came that we might know that there IS a more excellent way, and that HE IS that more excellent way. LOVE is that more excellent way. So when we start to go off course God doesn't destroy us. A Word behind us (in the past, the finished work of the cross) brings us back to that path. That way. And the Word, of course, is Jesus. The Word is love. Love is the only thing that can bring you to love. And let me say this--sometimes we feel like we need to hit rock bottom before we can start to climb again. Sometimes we feel like we've gone too far and there's no way back. Sometimes we even feel like the prodigal son who makes his own bed and then doesn't want to lay in it. But what ultimately brought him back to his father's house... was his father's love. If he didn't think he'd be welcomed (on some level, even as a servant if that was the best he could do) he wouldn't have gone home. And of course we know his father ran out to great him and restored him to the place where he always belonged. It's good in Daddy's house. That's what I'm trying to say. And we're always welcome in our heavenly Father's house. That's where He wants us to be. That's where He's calling us from--and calling us to. That's where He's leading us. Now, having said that, being in Father's house doesn't mean isolated from people. It means living from the inside out. Letting that love that lives in us come out of us no matter where we are. Showing people that same hospitality that our heavenly Father shows us. That's where He leads. That's HOW He leads. One more memory verse to wrap up tonight's Rant. "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" (Romans 2:4). God leads through His goodness. His Word (which is Jesus, which is love) is the lamp and the light that guides us and leads us and directs us and protects us. He doesn't have to try to scare us straight. He keeps us on the straight and narrow path that leads to life by loving us. By showing us the way. They way that He has already walked. The way that He IS. To live is to love and to love is to live. How else could God lead us to one but by showing us the other? It's all about life. It's all about love. That is the way. And all we have to do is follow where He leads!