| Finding the Way |
Chapter 2 |
Page 4 |
God’s leading, however, does not remove the necessity for though and effort on our part. He does not lead us by compulsion, without choice or exertion of our own. We have something to do with the working out of the will of God for ourselves. God is never to be left out of anything; He is always to be consulted. We pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” but it is we who must do this will – God will not coerce us into doing it, nor will He do it for us. We are to take God’s way instead of our own, but His will must work through our wills. Our wills are not to be crushed, broken, as sometimes we are told – they are to be merged in Christ’s, voluntarily brought into accord with His will, so that we shall do gladly and heartily what He wills for us to do. “Our wills are ours to make them Thine.” God never does anything for us that we can do for ourselves. He has given us brains, and He does not mean to think for us. He has given us judgment, and we are to decide matters for ourselves. He does not carry us along – He leads us through our own willingness, our obedience, our aspirations, our choices, our ventures of faith.
God’s leading includes divine providence. There are many examples of this in the Bible, but the story of Joseph is one of the plainest and most remarkable. In his youth, Joseph was cruelly sinned against. Then envy of his brothers tore him away from his home, and we see him carried off as a slave to a strange land. Why did not God interfere and prevent this crime? He could have done it, if he is God. Did He not love Joseph? Yes. Why, then, did he permit such terrible wrong to be done to this gentle boy? Just because He loved him.
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