Dear reader, do you lack wisdom? If
so, ask of God, and be abundantly supplied. If we obtain
wisdom from God it will guide us according to truth and in
harmony with His Spirit. God never leads us to do things
which are unreasonable, although sometimes it may occur
that the Holy Spirit will lead us to do things which are
beyond our reason. In such cases we should obey, and adore
the omniscience of God. God's thoughts are above our
thoughts, and His ways are above our ways (Isa. 55:8), and
it is only reasonable to suppose that we might not at all
times comprehend all that He leads us to do. If our
thoughts were equal to God's thoughts, then He would not
be worthy of our homage. This accounts for our being led
to do some things which seem beyond our reason; but we
should never do anything which we know to be unreasonable.
Those who throw away their better judgment and dive into
mysticism, foolishness, etc., will wake up sooner or later
to see their sad mistake.
CIRCUMSTANCES—All circumstances
are not providential consequently all circumstances can
not be relied upon. Yet we may often recognize the
hand writing of God in circumstances. Sometimes when
circumstances are the most favorable, they are the least
to be trusted. Consequently circumstances alone are not to
be followed. That providential circumstances have a part
in divine guidance can not be denied; but the trouble
comes in distinguishing those that are providential from
those that are not.
As neither our judgment,
circumstances, nor impressions can be trusted without
being tried, we see clearly that to know the mind of the
Lord we must seek the combined guidance of the Bible, the
Holy Spirit, our enlightened judgment, and providential
circumstances. Jesus commands us to follow Him, and if we
always do so He will open up the way ahead of us, and
cause circumstances to favor us as much as He sees best,
but if we neglect to follow Him we are likely to have
trouble with circumstances. Even when we are following Him
it may be that circumstances will not turn out as we think
they should; but Jesus knows best and "all things
work together for good to them that love the Lord",
so the thing for us to do is to follow on and own His way
to be right.
When the Word of God, the Holy
Spirit, sanctified judgment, and circumstances agree, then
we know that God is leading. Circumstances might favor
your going into a certain line of business; you might feel
impressed to do so, and your judgment might consent at
first thought; but if after examination it proves to be a
dishonest business, the Bible objects, and all other
leadings must at once surrender. The circumstances have
not been providential, your impressions have not come from
the Holy Spirit, and you have erred in judgment. Again you
might feel led to pursue a certain course upon which the
voice of Scripture is silent. Your judgment might say,
Proceed; and if it was not the best for you God might
cause circumstances to hinder.
Possibly the most critical position
would be when Scripture is silent, and both judgment and
circumstances favor going ahead. God sees danger ahead and
the Holy Spirit says, Abandon the idea. At such times we
should be very careful and seek diligently to know the
will of God; for if Satan could give an impression to go
with our misapplied judgment and circumstances, he could
accomplish our overthrow. But it is our privilege to know
the will of God and He will not forget us or neglect us,
for even the hairs of our head are numbered. Our
impressions are sometimes wrong, we may err in judgment,
and all circumstances are not providential; but the Bible
is sure. So in that which the Word teaches let us
diligently follow it and try the spirits by it, and we
shall become so acquainted with God and the leadings of
His Spirit, that in minor matters we can readily determine
the will of God and answer the question, "What would
Jesus do?"
CONSCIENCE.—We do not feel like
closing this chapter without saying a few words about
conscience. We often hear the question asked, "Is the
conscience a safe moral guide?" To this we answer,
No. Conscience alone, or aside from the Word and Spirit of
God, is not a safe guide. Conscience may be polluted by
false spirits or seared with the hot iron of tradition. 1
Tim. 4:2. The heathen woman who throws her infant to the
crocodile to appease the wrath of her god does so because
a defiled conscience tells her to. Her conscience
justifies her in this as much as a Christian woman's
conscience justifies her in going to a religious meeting.
Conscience is a safe guide only when it is educated by the
truth. Conscience like human wisdom, to be relied upon
must agree with the Word and the Spirit of God. Conscience
indeed has a part in our Christian life, and should not be
overlooked. Paul said he exercised himself to have a
conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.
Acts 24:16. A clear conscience is worth more than this
world; but a guilty conscience robs the soul of peace.
There are some things which God
allows us to decide by our conscience, or our better
judgment. These are things on which the voice of
inspiration is silent. We should also regard the
conscience of others; as Paul has said, "If meat make
my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world
standeth." 1 Cor. 8:13. This text is often perverted
and construed to mean, "If meat offend my brother, I
will eat no flesh while the world standeth." Those
who are fanatic often use it in this way to drive others
to their standard of thinking, by saying that they are
offended by certain things. The true meaning here is,
"If meat make my brother to offend CHRIST, I will eat
no meat," etc.
In things which are strictly
matters of conscience we are not required to see alike,
consequently we are not to bind our conscientious views on
our brethren. There are a few things such as the wearing
of cuffs and collars, the wearing of colors in dress,
etc., in which each one of us is to use his own pleasure.
One man is too conscientious to use a lock and key,
supposing that God will take care of his property; while
another man believes that God requires him to be a good
steward over temporal things committed to his trust, and
uses a lock and key to keep out the agents of the devil.
Things which are settled by the Word of God are absolute,
and upon these we are commanded to be of one mind (1 Cor.
1:10); but to try to bring everybody to see alike in
matters of conscience always causes confusion.
To further prove that the
conscience is not a safe moral guide we point the reader
to the fact, that in America, and some other countries,
people are allowed to worship God according to the
dictates of their own consciences, and if God were to lead
people in this way He would not lead them in hundreds of
different ways. The Bible nowhere says, Follow your
conscience; but it repeatedly admonishes us to follow the
example of Christ as laid down in the New Testament. God
has then given us the New Testament and the Holy Spirit to
guide us in life and doctrine, and with these a pure
conscience agrees. God indeed uses our conscience when it
is pure; but it is pure only when we are obeying the
Bible. The heathen may indeed be judged by his conscience
because he has nothing better; but God has given us a
better standard by which to be guided in spiritual things.
Our conscience then is to guide us only in things upon
which the Bible is silent and in things in which it agrees
with the Word and the Spirit of God.
