Our Trustworthy Guide - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, September 8th. When you have a choice to make, how do you know which is the right option to pick? Well, if you're a believer, you can confidently depend on the Holy Spirit to direct you as a trustworthy guide. Is there anybody who's guiding you? Is there anyone who's helping you along?

What trail are you on? Are you on the trail that God has prepared for your life or have you just decided, well, you know, this is what I'm going to do in life and this is the way I'm going to live it and so, you know, I'm going to make it the best way I can. We all need a guide because God did not make us and equip us to live our lives only in our own wisdom and understanding of things, but we need a guide. Now, you may have someone who's giving you guidance who has your best interest at heart, they think.

And in their understanding, they may make some guidance, some counsel to you, but it may not be right. Only God knows you. So, I'm asking you simply this, who's running your life? Who's guiding your life? Is there someone out there that knows you perfectly? No. Can always give you the exact right advice?

No. You need God in your life. And even then, I'm telling you, it's going to be tough at times. There's still going to be mountains and still going to be valleys and still hardships and still trials and all kind of things that you and I can't foresee. And that's why He says, I will guide you with My eye on you. You're under My scrutiny all the time.

I will teach you in the way which you should go. He knows the way we should go. And that's why we are so absolutely vulnerable. We're all vulnerable.

We all need Him every single day of our life. And I think about parents, for example, who raised their children and never give them any clear guidance. Never give them, for example, any idea that Almighty God has a plan for their life. And you ask yourself the question, have you ever sat your children down and said, I want to explain something to you. Father and Mother here, we are responsible for you now and God has placed you under our care. But there's coming a time when we're going to be gone and you need to know how to find out what's right, what's good, what's the best, how to make wise choices. And the way you do that is to have Christ in your life. Because He has a will and a plan and a purpose and a pathway for your life.

And He will guide you. And so, a parent, if you don't assume the responsibility of teaching them that God has a path for their life and encouraging them to walk that path and to be obedient to God, they mess up their life, what do you do? You blame them. You blame them, but the truth is you never gave them godly instruction because you didn't receive it and you didn't ask for it yourself and you lived out your life and they watched you how you live, so they come along and live the same way you live and make the same mistakes you make. Only you blame them because they didn't grow up and be what you want them to be.

It's a messed up, just messed up life. And the question is, why don't we listen to this Almighty God who only has the best for us? Only has the best for us at every turn. So there's some things, for example, we can't foresee. And no matter how well we plan them, we can't foresee them. And sometimes we think because we're having difficulty in our life or something tragic has happened that we sinned against God. That's not always the case. God allows certain experiences in our life for specific reasons. For specific reasons.

Reasons that fit His purpose and plan for our life. So it doesn't mean that because God is your guide you'll never have any trouble. Doesn't mean that you'll never have any pitfalls. Doesn't mean that you'll never fall or never be hurt. It means, listen, He says, I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

He knows exactly what, where, and when. It doesn't mean you'll never have any trials or hardships. Because, for example, like if you're traveling in the mountains and there are going to be some steep climbs and there are going to be some places that are rather scary. And I remember on one occasion going up the side of this mountain and the horses were walking on rock the whole way. And I remember one spot that I came to and the horse sort of walked out on this ledge, took a right turn, like a ninety degree almost, and I'm looking down thinking, oh, Jesus, I hope you're not coming back this way. And I say Jesus' name very reverently, especially when I'm afraid. So, when we got to the top, I asked the God, I said, we don't have to go back that way, do we? He said, yeah. This is the truth. I'll have to admit, I was a little bit afraid.

Because I knew that was straight down and He didn't have to make but one mistake. There are places in life when you look around it doesn't look very good. But if you remember who's guiding you, and if you remember who says, I'm going to counsel you with my opinion. There are a lot of things in life that we can't plan, things that we don't particularly like.

And you know, we can't change other people sometime. And so we have to decide, am I going to follow my guide or am I going to do it myself? Am I going to do what I feel or what I want to do or am I going to say, God, show me exactly what to do at this point? And sometimes what that is is not easy. There are places that God will lead us.

Our pathway, your pathway will lead you in that through some troublesome times. So how are you going to respond? Well, if you're wise, here's what you'll do. You'll say, Father, I'm trusting You. I'm trusting You to guide me, to protect me, to supply my need, to show me exactly what to do at every turn. Will He say no?

Never. He is a trustworthy guide. He will never fail you, never leave you, always there to guide you no matter what you're facing in life. And see, the reason He's so trustworthy is He knows us so well. He, listen, He's already chosen the path. He has it all scoped out.

He knows exactly where we are at every single moment. He knows and He's seen, He knows where the pitfalls are. And one thing, for example, that a horse does not want to do is to get in anything that mires up on him. And so, on one occasion, we were traveling along and my friend, who is much larger than I am, and he was on a big horse. He started across this area that was sort of soggy and mushy. And I watched his horse begin to sink a little bit and it really concerned me, but I saw something that I never would have believed. This horse is sinking with about a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound man on him, and when that horse got to a certain point, he lunged.

When he lunged, this is the truth, so help me. He threw my friend over his head and he landed smack on his face in the mud. Well, you don't plan those things, right? Now, we've all had mud on our face, I won't say that, but you don't plan that. But what you have to ask is, if I get in the mud hole, God, I can't handle it. I can't handle it. God, are you watching over me?

Yes. Was it my fault? I just didn't see it, Lord. Did you give me direction? Well, oftentimes He gives us direction, we don't pay attention to it. Well, I can handle that. When somebody tells me that they can handle some situations, I know they can. But I'm here to tell you, you and I can't handle everything in life.

God is a trustworthy guide who knows we desperately need Him at times. In fact, when we're in a situation like this, we get distracted with Him. And we have a lot of people who are, you know, I mean, congratulations, congratulations, congratulations. And we're going to have a lot of people who know we're congratulations. We're going to have a lot of people who know we're congratulations. And we're going to have a lot of people who are. We're going to have a lot of people who are in great relationships, health issues.

For example, that maybe we don't know, it's not something we did to get in that situation. We need Him. What do I do next, Lord? Can't let, I just give up, quit, walk away, whatever. That's, I give up His defeat, I surrender His awesome victory. Because I'm surrendering to the very God who created me.

You cannot lose that way. There are a lot of things in life that all of a sudden we're faced, that at the moment we may not know how to respond. God does. And He will show you exactly how to respond. Because He cares for us.

You see, remember this. He has a goal for your life. There's certain things He wants you to accomplish and achieve in life and you think, well, what could I achieve in life? Leave it to God. Don't try to out-think God and try to figure Him out. What He wants us to do is to trust Him.

Now, notice what He says. He says, I will instruct you in the way in which you should go. And He said, He says, I will teach you, instruct you, and I will counsel you with My opinion. And I remember on one occasion being out and it got darker and darker and darker, and finally it was just dark. And after we'd left the little fire, campfire we had, I said to our guide, oh, how are we going to get back? It's dark, there's no moon, no stars, nothing.

He said, well, we'll get back all right. And so, he didn't say anything, he didn't answer my question. And so finally, we were on the horse and beginning to move a little bit, I said, you know, I can't see my, this is the truth, this is how dark it was. You can see absolutely nothing. And so, I kept hounding him a little bit and he chuckled, here's what he said. He said, you can't see anything?

I said, I can't see a thing. He said, then you'll have to trust your horse. Your horse knows the way home. He's never been lost on these trails.

He said, trust your horse. God knows exactly where we are. And He knows exactly how to get us home one of these days. He knows how to get us there.

But we have a responsibility. Look at this passage, if you will. He says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way in which you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Then he gives us this warning, but don't act like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they won't even come near you.

A horse that's never been saddle-busted like a stallion is just wild. Lots of power and strength, but good for what? And so, the truth is, we have a responsibility. God is His trustworthy guide, but I have a responsibility. And what is my responsibility?

Follow the guide. Obey the guide. When we disobey, we get ourselves in trouble. And God will never mislead you.

And this is why, listen, this is why you may get godly counsel, very wise, godly counsel, and I do believe in that. But if you just ask some of your friends what you ought to do, be careful. Because here's what most of your friends are going to say.

Well now, if I were you, here's what I'd do. First of all, it's not their path. It's not their journey. It's not their life.

It's yours. They don't know what they'd do. If they had, watch this, if they, because they don't have your personality. They don't have your strengths, your weaknesses. They don't have your desires, your goals. They don't know your life. So when somebody says, well if I were you, here's what I'd do. What you ought to do is say thank you very much and ignore it.

If some, here's what, here's the question. You don't ask somebody, what do you think I should do? Here's what you ask them.

You ask them, in light of what the Bible teaches, what do you think God would have me to do? We need someone who is trustworthy, who will always tell us the truth, always guide us right, never mislead us, never leave us, never ignore us, and whose ear is trained to hear perfectly, not only my words, but my heart. Who reads our emotions, who knows how we feel and what we are thinking. And I'm simply asking you, is He your guide?

Is He the kind of guide that you could say, well, yes, I do have these situations and circumstances in my life and I know exactly where to go and I know exactly what to do. He says, don't be like the mule. But mules and stuff, you can hit an old mule and do anything you want to and he'll just stand there and hee-haw at you sometime and nothing happens. Sometimes we act that way. God sends us a signal, we just stand there. Sometimes God speaks to our heart, we just ignore it.

Because sometimes we want to choose a path that's so colorful, so appealing, sounds so fantastic, just like exactly what you want. But if you look under the cover, it's not what you want. And to be careful in the life that you and I live that we don't ignore the wisdom of a sovereign, omniscient, all-loving God who will only guide us in the right way. Now about probably fifty years ago, one of my college friends gave me a photograph. Well, this photo I have kept and sometimes I'd hang it in the study, sometimes I'd have it in the prayer room.

Sometimes I would just keep it somewhere that every once in a while I could look at it. And not long ago I was just down praying and asked the Lord to give me some direction about something and I felt a little uneasy about what was happening and how to handle it. And for some reason I had laid this picture with some others that I was going to hang. And I was, where I was praying happened to be close by that. And I reached over and pulled that picture up and looked at it, and it's like God said, I'm still at the helm. And how many times have I looked at that picture?

And here's what I love about it most. Here's the Lord Jesus standing behind this young man. And you see that He's got His eye focused very clearly on the direction that the Master's pointing. The Master's got His hand pointing in the right direction.

What I love about it most, He's got His hand on His shoulder saying, this is the way. This is the way we're going. I'm going to get you there. When you hit the stormy times, remember that Jesus will point you in the right direction. But He'll not just point you there, He'll have His hand on your shoulder assuring you, I'm going to get you through this storm. Amen? Amen. And He will do that for you if you will just let Him.

And let me tell you how it starts. It starts by acknowledging the fact that you've been living your life the way you wanted to. You've allowed sin in your life, disobedience in your life. You've made some unwise choices, you know you have. You've sinned against them deliberately, willfully, knowingly, you know you have.

You may regret some of those things and maybe sometimes you think, well, so what, everybody does it, they don't. The issue is this, what are you going to do about your life? Where are you going to end up one of these days when you die and you're going to die? The Bible says it's opponent of the man wants to die and after this the judgment. So, the question is this. I don't know where you are on the path at this moment.

Don't you think it'd be wise to consider linking your life up with a Master Guide, trustworthy, dependable, unfailing, intimate, personal guide. And that begins by asking the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sin, acting rebellious, doing it your way, having it your way. And He will forgive you of your sin not simply because you ask Him, but here's the reason He'll forgive you. Two thousand years ago, He went to the cross and He laid down His life on the cross and shed His blood. And the shedding of His blood was the shedding of His life. He gave Himself in your behalf and mine. He took your sin, all of your guilt, and all of your penalty upon Himself. And when He died, the Father, listen, judged Him for your sin, making it possible for you to be forgiven of your sin because He paid your sin debt in full. And when He died, He paid your sin debt in full. And when He died, He paid your sin debt in full. And when He died, He paid your sin debt in full. And when He died, He paid your sin debt in full.

And one moment in time. And if you're willing to ask Him to forgive you and willing to say to Him, I receive You as my Savior and my Lord, and you and I could say today, my pilot and my guide. And to follow Him, you will experience life at its best. Notice I didn't say life with ease.

I said life at its best. Because it's the difficulty and the hardship and the pain that builds character into our life and makes us more like Him. If you're willing to ask Him to save you, that's what you're doing. Saved from your life of sin, willing to ask Him by faith, trusting that He'll do what He promised. He says, He that comes to me, I will know I was cast a man.

I'm not going to ignore Him. I love the verse in the Psalms. It says, when His children cry to Him, He does not look the other way. He cares about us. And I want to ask you to ask Him to forgive you of your sin. Turn your life over to Him today. Make an eternal difference in your life. Thank you for listening to part two of our Trustworthy Guide. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.