Thursday, July 23, 2026

            Isaiah is one of the major prophets in the Old Testament.  His message and content are certainly “major” but that adjective is applied more to the length of the book that carries his name (as opposed to shorter books like Amos, Obadiah and Nahum that are not nearly as long and, thus, called “minor” prophets).  Isaiah’s prophetic mission was to the nation of Judah—also known as the southern kingdom.  He wrote in Isaiah 30:21, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”  This verse is an encouragement to us in 2026.  The ancient prophet tells us today that God can and does guide His people.  God can and does lead His people. However, it can be easy to misrepresent God’s guidance.  Some people will insist that God has led them to do something as little more than a guise or ruse to do what they already want to do with the hope of getting away with it.  We need to be careful not to make God our justification or reason for doing something that He has not directed us to do.  Such a thing is really taking God’s name in vain as a pretext or defense for our actions.  So, how can we tell when God may be leading us?
            First, we begin with the Bible.  God is never going to lead us in ways that conflict with or contradict His Word.  We cannot call good what God has called bad.  We cannot call right what God has called wrong.  We want to check any guidance we think we may have from God with what God has said in His Word.  A clear conflict with Scripture is a certain indicator that God is neither leading nor guiding in the ways we may think.  We have to be careful not to isolate a single verse or promise that might be directed to a particular person or time and make it universally binding.  For example, we do not perform animal sacrifices for our sins today because Jesus was, and is, the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  To perform an animal sacrifice today would be blasphemous.  Like the Bereans in Acts, search the Bible carefully and thoughtfully to see what God has actually said.  Make sure you look at verses in the broader context of God’s Word.
            Second, rely on the accountability and support of mature, spiritually healthy Christians.  Check out what you may think God is guiding you to do with other believers. They can help you pray and talk through a situation. For example, if you are part of a mission team and everyone is working hard to finish a project and you think God has led you to go shopping, you are likely wrong.  Your fellow Christians can help you see the mistake in such thinking and help you to get back on task with the work at hand.  If we think we are led by God to do things that are badly out of step with what He is leading, equipping and preparing others to do, then we need the help of Christian brothers and sisters to get us back on track.
            Third, consider whether good fruit of the Spirit will be produced by what God is leading you to do.  Is the Kingdom advanced in any way?  Will others be drawn closer to Christ by what you do?  Is what you are thinking self-serving or a service to others?  Often, we can help ourselves by listening carefully to what we are actually saying or thinking.  If we hear the pronouns “I” or “me” repeated in our words and thoughts, we may actually be more centered on doing something to make ourselves happy instead of serving the work of God in some way no matter how we may characterize it. 
            And finally, we have to ask if what we think God is leading us to do is in keeping with the mission and character of those around us.  For example, God is not going to turn a Baptist church into a charismatic congregation by sending one person to lead the transformation.  God is the God of order—not chaos.  1 Corinthians 14:33 says, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.”  If a faithful church, small group or Sunday School class is bearing fruit and being true to God’s Word, there is simply no reason to conclude that God is going to guide someone to throw them into chaos.  That notion flunks the common-sense test, the good theology test and the authority of the Bible test.  If a group of believers is working diligently in a ministry that is bearing fruit and changing lives, God is not going to stop that so one person can lead the group astray to something completely different under the pretext of “God is leading me.” 
            God gives us some wonderful direction to keep us on point and on track so that we clearly have His guidance.  That direction is found in 1 John 4:1 which says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”  God plainly says there is a lot of falsehood, deception, error and human-centered thinking and behavior in the world.  He does not want us to fall prey to and party to such things.  Scripture and good Christian brothers and sisters can help us avoid the dangerous pitfalls of making God a signatory to or participant in what we have already decided to do.  God has created us with free will and freedom to follow or reject Him.  But we are not free to do as we wish and conclude that God has sanctioned it, approved it and led us to do it.  That is a sin!  Test the spirits and use the good help God has given to His people!  Have a great Thursday!