by Edwin Kaymond Anderson
SPURNED GUIDANCE
them? They spurned the Guide, and set out by themselves— He will guide into all truth, and the truth can hurt! The Spirit is very searching, driving beneath the surface, judging the motives, scanning the attitudes, beholding us just as we are. And it’s too hard, too demanding, and so many of His disciples go back and walk no more. He would guide, He will not drive nor force. He offers matchless, proven guidance, pleading with the voice of tender entreaty, but the guidance is refused. A guide is to be followed. One may believe a guide but unless there is the culmination in obedi ent following, it goes for nothing. One is almost afraid to hear a group of Christians sing, “Where He leads me I will follow,” for the note on the lips too often dies away before it has a fair chance of echoing in the heart. Of course the need for His leadership is easy to believe in when it is a matter of chapter and verse for mental belief. But for all of that, He is a Leader who will not be followed. “All because a man thinks he is good enough to be his own guide.” With what burning grief must the Lord issue such a word against many of His own who have fallen into spiritual disaster!
“ the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). No man of himself can track the eternal trails. But there is an implication to the above which points directly to those who are redeemed. Many of the saints stand in the shadows of another tragedy of perilous conse quence. This concerns the guid ance of the Holy Spirit for the af fairs of the Christian life. Many a Christian admits this as a doctri nal proposition but almost brutally rejects it when it comes to the daily bed-rock of practical application. “ Let go and let God” is a truth which all too often becomes frozen into a neatly framed motto on the wall. Recall that familiar word of the Lord Jesus in reference to this mat ter: “ . . . when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). He alone is the Competent Guide across life’s trailways. Only with Him can we avoid doubt and dis aster. And yet . . . and yet . . . What of those who name the Name, starting out so high, so well; they did run' well, what did hinder? Side-tracked, defeated, majoring on minors, missing the main matter at life’s hand, useless as far as the Lord’s desire and measure is con cerned: whatever happened to
| have just received a letter from a friend who is in Switzerland on a business project. He writes of a frightful tragedy which took place at the Alpine mountain lodge where he is staying. A young American student who had done some minor skiing on the New England slopes started out one morning to run one of the sharp Alpine trails—without a guide. He was highly insulted at the sugges tion of requiring one. He had had enough experience he claimed back on the New England snow runs; that ought to stand him in good stead. Thus he set out all by him self—and never came back. They found his body at long last in a deep ravine. My friend com ments, “ . . . and all because a man thinks he is good enough to be his own guide.” There are many ramifications to that, the most important of which reaches into the spiritual realm. For this very reason do so many perish in the deep ravine of sin and the nightmare of a Christless eternity. For this very reason do we, sinners saved by grace, warn men and women and boys and girls with strong crying and tears to flee from the wrath to come, to turn utterly away from themselves and com pletely unto the One who alone is,
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The King's Business/October 1958
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