He will guide us forever
Psalms 48:14
God wants to guide our lives like a good Father. And like a good father he does not want to make us into puppets and predetermine everything we do. He wants to give his children room to grow in their wisdom and exercise their will in submission to Christ. At the same time, if we abide in Christ’s commandments, pray, and seek counsel then we can expect God’s direction. He promises in James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (ESV).
This doesn’t mean that we will usually receive a clear strong impression from God on all our important decisions. Once we have fulfilled our responsibility to seek his guidance then we make a decision according to the best wisdom we know. After that, we trust God’s provision even if we don’t get the results we hoped for.
And God’s guidance doesn’t mean that we won’t make mistakes. He will “guide” us into situations where we need to learn from our mistakes. God does not promise a mistake-free life if we constantly trust in his guidance. We still need to learn by experience.
But the most important encouragement is that he will guide us, whether we are aware of it or not. Knowing that he is guiding us gives us peace and helps us to focus on following Christ in whatever situation we are in.
