I know a fellow who was considering asking a girl to marry him. At the church he attended they closed each service by calling everyone forward to kneel and spend some time in prayer. As he was diligently seeking direction about asking his girlfriend to marry him, he decided to ask God to specifically guide him.
“Lord, if you want me to ask her to marry me, have her come and kneel by me to pray. If you don’t want me to ask her, then don’t let her come pray beside me.” A few moments later he sensed a person kneel beside him. By the sweet smell of perfume, he could tell it was her. Excitedly he opened his eyes knowing for sure he had heard from God. But there, beside him, knelt another girl he barely knew. What was he to do? He tapped her on the shoulder and proposed.
The first part of that story is true but obviously, he didn’t propose. Instead, he got up totally confused. Can you relate? Do you ever have a hard time finding specific direction from the Lord? Am I supposed to do this or do that or none of the above? In my last post, I shared a time Paul the apostle seemed to bounce from option to option trying to find God’s direction. After a couple of false starts, he got what seemed to be clear direction in a vision. But wait…
Acts 16:9-10
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
A couple of observations from this clear direction from heaven.
- It appears they still had some reservations. “Concluding” that God had called us ….“Concluding” has to do with evaluating the evidence and making a decision based on it. There is still an element of surmising and inferring from the facts. It’s also interesting that when they go to Macedonia, specifically the city of Philippi, they don’t meet this man seen in the vision – which is the way I would have written the story. In fact, their first convert is a woman – Lydia – and apparently, they never meet the man seen in the vision.
No matter how clear the heavenly direction seems, it’s wise to still move forward carefully and prayerfully.
- They obeyed immediately. “we got ready to leave at once.”
I’ve discovered that we often fail to hear from the Lord because we have not fully obeyed the last thing he told us to do. We may do it halfway or not at all but expect the Lord to give further direction.
But God usually won’t tell us the next step until we complete the first step. In baseball, you can’t go to third base until you have touched first and second base. It’s like getting up to bat and, from home plate, watching the third base coach to see if he is going to signal you to run. You’ve got to focus on and do the first things first. Hit the ball, touch first base, second base and then look for direction.
In other words, we need to do what we know to do before we ask for specific direction about other things.
If you are lost and looking for direction, do what you know to do. Do what you’ve already been told to do. And, when you need to know more you can be sure He will tell you.
___________________
Psalm 25:9-10
He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.
All the LORD’s ways are loving and faithful to those who keep His covenant and His decrees.