A Love That Leads

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…” These words of the Lord’s prayer are profound, and point to the wonderful truth that God does not stop his gracious intervention in our lives when we accept the gift of salvation. On the contrary, once we have accepted the grace offered us, we are wholly reliant on His strength, His power, and His wisdom to know how to live a redeemed life. Like Farrell mentioned in her great post the other day, we can do no good on our own, and so we must lean on God to show us the way. And in His goodness, He does!

“In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.” Exodus 15:13

Anticipating our need for guidance, God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within each new creation. Comforting his disciples before his arrest and execution, Jesus describes this helper:

“…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you… All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:16-18, 25-26

In the same way that God led Israel out of Egypt and through the desert, his Holy Spirit guides us through each day, each situation, each temptation. CAUTION ALL TYPE-A PLANNERS! (I know because I am one): God’s way is perfect, but it might not be what we expect or can plan for. I am grateful for the Spirit, and for the way He leads me each day, but sometimes I wonder if I still misunderstand Him. When I think of being led, I think of going from point A to point B; a specific and efficient trajectory. However, as I was reading from Luke 4 and pondering our relationship and reliance on the spirit, I was struck by the wording of the very first verse, which describes Jesus’ time in the wilderness:

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness.” Luke 4:1

I can’t get my eyes off of that word: “around,” which to me—as an adverb describing a path—screams “inefficient!” Jesus was clearly being led by the Spirit, but he was still wandering in the desert! This really made me think. My discomfort with this idea points to my own sinful and self-serving preferences for expediency and easy paths. But the Spirit is not a divine GPS to get us where we want to go. Rather, it is—if we learn to be sensitive to it—a miraculous connection to the Father, who has a perfect plan for us. The point of my life is not to fulfill my own plans, but His. If we truly believe this, we will hold our plans loosely and gratefully accept where God has placed us today, without worry for tomorrow. May we lean heavily and wholly on the leading of the Spirit, and forever praise the One who leads us by His love!