Why is life so confusing? If God really does love me, and if He really does have a plan for my life, to prosper and not harm me, then why doesn’t He just tell me what to do? Why do so many good people wind up shipwrecked when they seemed to do everything right?
These are great questions! If God is not the author of confusion, why is life so confusing?
A few years ago the “W.W.J.D.” fad was incredibly popular. “What would Jesus do?” was the question of the day and was emblazoned on t-shirts, Bible covers, bumper stickers, and highway overpasses. The question became a philosophical one that would consume hours at a coffee shop. But is it really a question of philosophy?
Life is full of questions. Who should I marry? How should we take care of our aging parents? What job should I take, where should I go to college, or which major should I choose? Which 401-k should we invest in? We pray for wisdom, we ask God to help us, why does He seem so silent? Could it be that we are asking the right questions but looking in the wrong places for answers.
Joshua chapter one finds Moses commissioning Joshua to take over in leading the Israelites. After a long forty years in the wilderness they were about to cross over the Jordan river into Canaan which would present a whole new set of challenges and obstacles. He offered this instruction:
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8, KJV)
Moses gave two imperatives and two promises. The first imperative is that God’s people had to know the Word of God. They were not to divert from it for any reason, but were to meditate on it day and night. To meditate is to ponder, to think about something deeply for long periods of time, to allow a concept to move from our mind to our heart until it becomes a part of who we are. In athletics a parallel concept might be muscle memory, practicing a golf swing until it becomes second nature. In a culture that craves instant results the discipline of meditation is a foreign concept. Sadly many professing believers never think to open their Bibles apart from a Sunday morning worship service, and many more are happy with “a verse a day to keep the devil away” from a daily devotional as they hurry out the door. While His Word never returns void and anything is better than nothing, this is precisely not what Moses had in mind! (see also Deuteronomy 6:6-9; 11:26-28)
The second imperative is that they were to observe to do according to all that is written. Many years later James wrote that we are to be doers of the Word and not hearers only. Jesus and John both equated our obedience to His Word as evidence of our love for Him. The problem then becomes that in a fallen world the world, the flesh, and the devil offer a constant alternative to the Word of God. There will always be a way that seems so right to us but leads us in the wrong direction. As Charles Spurgeon said so well: “Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong, but knowing the difference between right and almost right.”
The first promise to the Israelites is that they would be prosperous. True prosperity is not limited to what money can buy, but also in what money cannot buy. The Lord Jesus taught much about the deceitfulness of riches, and to be careful to not lay up treasure on earth but rather in Heaven, being rich toward God.
The second and similar promise is that God’s people would have good success. Not just success but good success. The world offers many counterfeits to good success: financial, health, pleasure, comfort, and security to name a few but these are quite temporary. True success is focused on the eternal. The Lord asked the question: what does it prosper a man to gain the entire world and lose his eternal soul, and the account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke’s gospel offers a chilling example.
Years later King David referred to Scripture as “a lamp unto his feet and a light to his path.” (Psalm 119:105). God’s Word is quite literally a road map through life that will lead us on a path of prosperity and true success for both now and for eternity. It will lead us away from pitfalls, harm, and calamity. And while it may not always give specific answers to questions of who we should marry or which investment to make, it will always give wisdom and guiding principles to help us make good decisions. Finally the Lord promised that the Holy Spirit will guide us in all Truth, and that His Word is Truth (John 16:13; 17:17). While God can and does speak in many ways, He promises to speak through His Word, and will never speak in any way that contradicts His Word.
With all of these incredible promises, why do we so seldom turn to God’s Word for guidance? Here are a few reasons:
- Spiritual warfare. The Bible is the last place the world, the flesh, and the devil want us to look for answers and guidance. Satan asked Eve “did God really say?” L. Moody once said “The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.”
- It’s hard work! Speaking of the wisdom of God’s Word Solomon wrote in Proverbs 2:4 “If you seek her as silver, and search for her as hidden treasure”. Silver mines are deep, requiring huge investments of time and labor to find and produce the precious ore, while gold is often near the surface and can be easily panned. Mel Fisher invested decades in researching the sunken Spanish treasure galleon “Atocha”, and another 16 years and millions of dollars before finding its wreckage (and $ 400 million in treasure) in 1971. In Matthew 11 the Lord Jesus prayed, thanking the Father that He had hidden these things from the wise and the prudent. Isaiah promised that we would search for Him and we would find Him when we searched for Him with all of our heart. Sadly many people would prefer that the Lord speak to them through a “Magic Eight Ball” or random circumstance than to invest the time and energy of searching the Scriptures.
- We really don’t want to know what the Bible says. If a person is truly a born-again believer then the Holy Spirit lives in their heart and will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment. When facing a decision or choice He will always seek to guide us in the right direction, and will lead us to principles in His Word for confirmation. Our own sinful nature, the secular world, and the lies of the devil will always lead us in the opposite direction. It’s much easier to rationalize a poor decision if we don’t know what His Word actually says. “Don’t bother me with the facts, I know how I feel” or “I know what the Bible says but…” are famous last words and ignorance of the law will never work as an excuse before God.
As Joshua led the Israelites through the conquest of Canaan it was one battle after another against formidable opponents. In each battle the Lord offered specific, concrete instructions that would lead them to certain victory. In many cases they followed the directions through trust and obedience, learning more about the goodness and faithfulness of their God. In other instances they thought they had a better plan, ignored His directions and went down in defeat. Even then He was merciful, allowing them to regroup, try again, and giving them ultimate victory though not without suffering the consequences of their sinful doubt and unbelief.
The book of Joshua ends with his farewell address to the Israelites. In recounting God’s great faithfulness through their victories and defeats and knowing them all too well he left them with the words:
“If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord choose this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15, KJV)
Then as now there’s an easy way and a hard way. We can be diligent to keep God’s Word at the forefront of our minds, meditate and ponder it throughout the day and night, and be careful to do what it says, letting it be our guide to prosperity and true success Or when all else fails we can read the directions.