Reflections

Unconscious Guidance

No serious study on Divine guidance can ignore the fact that God guides our lives even though we are unaware of it. We often call this unconscious guidance. A great deal of our guidance in life takes place when we are not conscious of it, for God knowing the end from the beginning arranges circumstances and events in our lives for our highest good.

The story of Ruth in the Old Testament illustrates most beautifully this important truth. After committing her life to the God of Israel, Ruth, together with her mother-in law, Naomi, came to Bethlehem to eke out their existence in the direst poverty. Things were so bad that Ruth had to try to make ends meet by taking on the job of a gleaner, and whist doing this task, she happened to light on a part of the field which belonged to Boaz. From there the story takes on an entirely different turn, bringing Ruth from poverty and penury to become the wife of one of the richest men of her day. Was this just luck? No-it was the providence of God moving through her life and bringing her in line with His perfect purposes.

How many times do we just happen to be in the right place at the right time? Some years ago I met an evangelist In Tokyo airport who told me he had just missed his plane. As we talked, the announcement came over the public address system that the plane he missed had crashed into a mountain-with no survivors. We knelt together in the midst of that crowded airport to give God thanks for His unconscious guidance, How thankful we ought to be that God is working for our highest good-even when we are not conscious of it.

Reflections
He guides-not overrides
Apart from the three prerequisites to guidance (prayer meditation listening) there are other aspects to this fascinating subject. We ask ourselves: Just how does God go about the task of guiding His children into the best paths?
There can be no doubt that if God had a plan for every single detail of our lives, such as what shoe we should put on first thing in the morning, then our personalities would be dwarfed and our moral nature cramped. If all that was necessary was just to obey His dictated orders through the day, then there would be no development of our personalities or growth in the areas of our inner being. Exercise in freedom is essential to growth and development, and so God is concerned, when guiding us, that at the same time He does not override us, This does not mean of course, that God does not at times condescend to guide us concerning certain details, but generally His main concern is to develop within us mature attitudes so that we can handle those details in a mature way.
Every father concerned about the true development of his child gives that child a wide scope for the exercise of judgement and decision. But he is also swift to break in at times with words of guidance and instruction which his love and longer experience qualify him to give. Guidance is therefore guidance into the highest development of our characters so that we respond to  life with deep insight, clear judgement and rich understanding.