MIF 19:1 (Jan-Feb 1987)
A Path Untrod
“Ye have not passed this way heretofore… Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you” (Joshua 3:4-5).
Joshua was about to lead the nation of Israel in a way they had never been before. The path was unknown to them, just as the new calendar year is unknown to us. But God gave Israel the ark to follow and He promised that if they would set themselves apart to Him and fix their eyes upon the ark, a type of Christ, He would do wonders among them.
The New Year will bring some new problems and reruns of some of the old ones. But when we keep our eyes fixed on Him who is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, we need have no fear about the handling of the problems. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye” (Psalm 32:8). How can we go wrong with such a promise to guide us? God will never guide us in a path which is contrary to His teaching; He will never guide us in a way which conflicts with our solemn moral duty or sanctified common sense.
If we truly acknowledge the Lordship of Christ in our hearts, we will look to Him for guidance in all our moral choices and obligations in the months ahead. Let us make sure we are not just asking Him to approve the decisions we might have made in our own strength and judgment. The Lord Jesus told His disciples, “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). God’s Word repeatedly promises this guidance of the Holy Spirit, and it is only when we make decisions without listening to Him that we ask for trouble, and usually find it.