How does God guide His people? Psalm 32 tells us He guides us with His eye. What does that mean? It involves His Word, His Holy Spirit, and the circumstances of our lives. But there is something we cannot do without if we want God’s leading.
Welcome, to “God’s Word Day by Day.” This year I’ve added a couple of new features. First, check out the “Free Resources” tab at the top. You’ll find a downloadable, printable PDF with “Going Deeper Study Questions” for each day’s post and a list of all the Bible readings so you can check them off as you go. You’ll also find the daily posts on YouTube. The daily emails now have a link to both these Soul Survival posts and the YouTube videos. If you’re not already signed up, you can do it here.
Today’s Readings:
Numbers 17 & 18
Psalm 32.6-11
Proverbs 11.19-21
Mark 11.20-33
How Does God Guide His People?
Psalm 32.6-11:
He Guides Us with His Eye
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye (v. 8, NKJV).
Matthew Henry had this to say about verse 8, “He teaches us by his word and guides us with his eye, by the secret intimations of his will in the hints and turns of Providence, which he enables his people to understand and take direction from, as a master makes a servant know his mind by a wink of his eye.”
Read that quote once again slowly.
It’s that combination of His Word, the circumstances of our lives (the secret intimations of his will in the hints and turns of Providence), and His Holy Spirit’s guidance (which he enables his people to understand and take direction from).
They work together, but we won’t recognize the leading of His Spirit apart from a faithful intake and an understanding of His Word. In fact, the Word is the primary way that God guides His people today as He gives us illumination and greater understanding.
If you would like to read more on this subject, you might want to check out Pastor John MacArthur’s book, Found: God’s Will.
A Few Thoughts about Today’s Other Readings …
Numbers 17 & 18:
The Man Whom I Choose
Yesterday, we read about the rebellion of Korah. A large group of people had challenged Moses’ leadership and Aaron’s priesthood. And God had dealt with them quickly and decisively. He had consumed by fire the Levites who were challenging Aaron’s priesthood and opened the earth and swallowed up the remainder.
But the very next day, the people turned on Moses again and God consumed 14,700 of them with a plague. It’s no wonder God called them stiff-necked!
Now in chapter 17, just in case there are more doubts, God will confirm His choice further.
2 “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers’ house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers’ houses, twelve staffs. Write each man’s name on his staff, 3 and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers’ house. 4 Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. 5 And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you” (ESV).
Even Ripe Olives
The result:
8 On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. 9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. 10 And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.” 11 Thus did Moses; as the Lord commanded him, so he did.
He didn’t just do the minimum. And Moses was to keep Aaron’s rod as a reminder of His chosen leader.
Notice one other detail. Even though the people grumbled against Moses, God saw it as grumbling against Him (v. 10).
Those Who Are Blameless
Proverbs 11.19-21:
19 Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live,
but he who pursues evil will die.
20 Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord,
but those of blameless ways are his delight.21 Be assured, an evil person will not go unpunished,
but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered.
Being blameless is not about sinless perfection, but about walking in grace-powered obedience. It’s about cultivating a desire to please God, confessing known sin, and depending on Him and His grace.
Mark 11.20-33:
Mountain Moving
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
John MacArthur in his Daily Bible, has this to say about the mountain-moving faith Jesus talked about, “… if believers sincerely trust in God and truly realize the unlimited power that is available through such faith in Him, they will see His mighty powers at work … This places no limits on a believer’s prayers, as long as they are according to God’s will and purpose.”
And how will we know His will and purpose?—through a better understanding of His Word! Then when we pray and believe … He will surely do great things through us!
Coming Up:
In the coming days, we’ll look at modesty, discretion, and what, if anything, God’s Word says about how we dress. We’ll also talk about giving and our hearts, that if we go looking for trouble, we’ll find it, and ask the question, “What are you willing to pour out for Christ?”
I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss them.
Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥
Note about this post:
I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer.
A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”
I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.
Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)
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