Guidance

“Our whole being by its very nature is one vast need . . . crying for Him” (Lewis 13).

 The Christian has need for guidance in all of life. “[L]ead us not into temptation” suggests dealing with our daily trials by praying for God’s guidance. “Lead us not” (eisenegkes) means “Do not let us fall victim” (Rogers and Rogers 13). “Temptation” (peirasmos) has a twofold meaning with the context determining the meaning. Temptation means (1) “trial, proving . . . of man’s fidelity, integrity, virtue, constancy” and (2) “An enticement to sin, temptation, whether arising from the desires or from outward circumstances” (Thayer 498). We will discuss the first meaning in this chapter and the second meaning in the following chapter.

God tests men’s faith, integrity, virtue, and constancy. God has done so through the centuries. God tried Abraham’s faith in offering of Isaac on Mt. Moriah (Genesis 22:1-19; Hebrews 11:17-18). God allowed Job’s faith to be tested. Paul gives a litany of his trials in 2 Corinthians 11:16-33. Our trials of life are to be accepted joyfully as a means of maturing our faith (James 1:2-4; cf. Romans 5:3-5). The value of the trials of life is seen in the words of Epictetus, “It is difficulties (peristaseis) that show what men are” (Rogers and Rogers 552).

 Why God Allows Trials
It is normal to ask, “Why does God allow us to suffer trials and difficulties?” We must understand that God’s allowance of trials in no way reflects on His power and goodness. Warren gives the following answer to why God allows us to suffer trials and difficulties:

God knew that man would fall into sin before that sin actually occurred . . . [and] knowing that man would need an environment in which to develop moral and spiritual character . . . and having the knowledge of the environment needed by man (as his “vale of soul-making”), God created the world (which is as good as any possible world for its purpose) in which such things as earthquakes, tornadoes, disease, one animal eating another, and one man killing another, occur. God knew how to create a world which would provide for man an environment which was as good as any possible for the purpose of enabling man to be truly free and to have an environment in which he could best develop morally and spiritually. The Bible clearly teaches that God created man and the world as a “vale of soul-making” for him, and planned for man’s life on earth to be a probationary period which ends at the moment of his physical death (thus attaching vital significance not only to the world as a “vale of soul-making” but also to man’s life in that world as the only time in which he can make the decision to turn to God in love, devotion, and obedience). (23-24)

Jesus implores the Christian to pray for divine guidance in the many trials we experience so that we remain faithful to God. Christians are to pray for God’s guidance and help when undergoing trials—death of loved ones, economic reversals, loss of work, divorce, threats when we are “persecuted for righteousness sake,” etc. (Matthew 5:10). Praying for God’s guidance helps us and keeps us from being victims of our trials. We can allow our trials to either mature us or destroy us.

The Benefit of Trials
Various forms of adversity challenge us. When we handle our adversities by allowing them to mature our faith, then we understand why Jesus instructs us to pray, “lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13a).

As children of God we are “heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Romans 8:17). The “vale of soul-making” enables the Christian to be like Christ. “Christ endured sufferings and was advanced to glory, in like manner shall we be also advanced to glory” (Stuart 324). Through Christ’s life of sufferings, He was faithful to God. He relied on divine guidance to handle His trials. He prayed for divine guidance (Matthew 26:36-46). Therefore, we need to pray, “lead us not into temptation.” We do not want to fall victim of our trials by beginning the Christian life and then failing to finish (cf. Hebrews 12:1-2).

Trials are a part of discipleship. “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (1 Timothy 3:12). “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed.” (Romans 8:18). Morris reminds us that “[n]either Paul nor any other New Testament writer lets us forget that believers have no easy path. This is not some perverse accident but an integral part of discipleship. But this suffering is in some way linked to the sufferings of Christ. . . . The path of suffering is the path of glory” (318). As a Christian, pray in your trials, whatever they may be, that you may live a faithful life like Christ who is our example (cf. 1 Peter 2:21). Pray for guidance that our heavenly Father helps you to be victorious over your trials.

An individual must submit to God spiritually for salvation; likewise, “one must submit to his will when suffering” (Warren 73). The biblical worldview is identical to Warren’s argument for “the vale of soul-making,” which describes spiritual blessings and experiencing the trials of life during man’s probationary period on Earth. Charles C. Pugh III (31) lists some of the benefits of our trials.

Suffering provides an opportunity, when hearts of men are either the most tender or most bitter, for God to “cry out” to them for the purpose of moving them to serve Him as true sons of God (cf. Acts 16:26-30).

Suffering provides an opportunity to develop strength in moral character (cf. Romans 5:3-4; James 1:2-4).

Suffering influences the wayward to re-evaluate his life and return to God as a true son of God (cf. Psalm 119:67).

Suffering provides an opportunity to test one’s love for, and loyalty to, God (cf. Job 1:9-22; 2:3-6; 13:15).

Suffering provides an opportunity for one to increase in his knowledge of God through both general revelation (i.e. creation) and special revelation (i.e. the Bible and Jesus Christ) (cf. Psalm 119:71).

Suffering provides an opportunity to help one understand better and appreciate more the person and work of Jesus Christ and the “supreme instance” of suffering He experienced (cf. Romans 8:32-35).

Suffering provides an opportunity to help one appreciate more the greatness of Heaven (cf. Romans 8:18).

As God’s sons, we pray, “lead us not into temptation,” so that we do not become victims of our trials; i.e. use our trials to mature us rather than allowing our trials to cause abandonment and rejection of God. God never allows us to be tested “beyond what [we] are able, but with temptation will also make the way of escape, that [we] may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). It is comforting to know that “the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations” (2 Peter 2:9). He delivered Lot from Sodom (cf. 2 Peter 2:7).

When I was a student at Abilene Christian College (University), Leonard Burford was a blind music instructor. Blind from birth, he attended classes at Abilene Christian College. His mother attended class with him in order to help him. Upon his graduation, Abilene Christian College conferred on both a BA degree. He pursued his doctoral work at the prestigious Columbia University. He typed his own doctoral thesis. He returned to Abilene Christian College, taught music, and was a blessing to all. He bore his trial in the flesh because he depended upon God for guidance. In his burden, God helped him. We need to be happy that we do not have to bear our burdens alone. We must cast “all our care upon Him . . . He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Jesus gives a parable dealing with life. The parable consists of two men. One man heard the word of God and obeyed (Matthew 7:24-25) and the other man heard the word of God and disobeyed (Matthew 7:26-27). Both “built his house”; i.e. life. The man who heard and obeyed built his life on the solid rock of the teaching of God. The man who heard and disobeyed built his life on the sands of the teachings of men. Both men built their lives and in both were “floods . . . winds . . . rains.” They represent the trials of life. These came to both men alike.

The floods of life can be our struggles, our fight to stay above the surface for a breath of air. Sometimes we are flooded with family problems, health, death, disappointments in and with others, etc. We all have experiences much like David who cried, “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. . . . Where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying. . . . I wait for my God” (Psalm 69:1-3). We need to pray for God’s guidance in times of trials.

The winds of life can be those things that attempt to change matters that are right and good; i.e. redefining of marriage, same-sex unions, truth no longer absolute, disseminating information so that evil appears to be good and good appears to be evil (cf. Isaiah 5:20), etc. We must pray to God to be led in things that are good and right.

The rains of life can be the subtle evils that erode at our spiritual foundation; i.e. materialism, indifference, apathy, immorality, etc. Unless our faith is strong and depends on the guidance of God, our soul will fall victim to our trials. We must pray to avoid being a victim, and to being victorious. It is God’s guidance, and our dependence upon Him, that make us “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (cf. Romans 8:37-39). “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4). “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

The Christian is “grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of [our] faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6-7). As the Christian’s faith is tested, we “rejoice, insofar as [we] are partakers of Christ’s sufferings . . . [and] blessed are [we], for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you . . . and He is glorified” (1 Peter 4:12-15). In the trials of life, we must pray “lead us not into temptation.”

WORKS CITED
Lewis, C. S. The Four Loves. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1960. 

Morris, Leon. The Epistle to the Romans. 1988. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994.

 Pugh, Charles C. III. Life’s Greatest Acclamation—God. New Martinsville: Threefold, 2006.

 Rogers, Cleon L. Jr. and Cleon L. Rogers III. The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.

Stuart, Moses. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Andover: Flagg & Gould, 1832.

Thayer, Joseph Henry. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. 1885. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1956.

Warren, Thomas B. Have Atheists Proved There is No God? Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1972.