God Leads Us Along

Nehemiah 9:12 By day You led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take. 

The journey out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and across the wilderness was in the plan of God. He worked wonders in the lives of the children of Israel. It was not an easy journey. It took faith and obedience to make it and sadly the generation that left Egypt did not get into the Promised Land due to their lack of faith. They vexed God. He was providing for them and leading them. They were going their own way.

We can learn much about the way He leads through this verse this morning out of Nehemiah. It is a simple and concise statement. It speaks volumes. It speaks of our lives today.

God wants us to follow His Leadership. You say we do not have the pillar of cloud and fire they had. But we have His Word and His Spirit. His Word which stands eternal in the heavens. Hi Spirit which He has poured out freely on all who believe His Word.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. 

John 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; He will speak only what He hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 

The Comforter has come and we have all we need in His Word.

2 Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 

God is guiding us, not into happiness or riches or being sucessful in the eyes of the world. He is not wanting us to win the Lotto Jackpot- He doesn't even want us playing it. 

The guidance of God is primarily to get us to heaven.

Article on things lasting 5 years and how consumerism is going to only get worse.

We need to fight the good fight of the faith today. It takes wisdom, wisdom that only comes from His Word.

1. The Love and Mercy and Grace of God Causes Him To Lead Us Along The Path of Life.

Nehemiah 9:19 “Because of your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take. 

The path of life winds through this world. The Pilgrim's Progress speaks of this. We go through all kinds of situations. 

Along this path as we encounter opposition to our faith we experience the love and mercy of God.  

*God is compassionate.

He understands that we are human beings.

He is full of compassion.

His mercy see that we dont get what we do deserve.

His grace sees that we get what we dont deserve.

2. Sometimes the Path is Bright.

We may not feel our need of God as we should.

We need to remember (and He puts things there to remind us) that we need Him always.

In times of blessings we experience the greatest spiritual danger. It is when blessings are abundant that we can easily forget where they came from. The 10 lepers.

Israel is an example. 

3. Sometimes the Way is Dark.

The Valley of the Shadow of Death.

Depression

Stresses of Life

Proverbs 11:8 The righteous person is rescued from trouble,and it falls on the wicked instead. 

He lights the way with fire!

During those times we cannot see ahead at all.

One step at a time.

One Day at a time.

Do not to try and figure God out. 

Romans 11:33-34 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!How unsearchable his judgments,and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord?Or who has been his counselor?” 

4. He is Leading Us to Heaven.

This past week we commemorated the death of Jim Elliot, the missionary to the Auca Indians in South America. Jim was martyred at 29 years of age. He wrote in his journal  a few years before: I must not think it strange if God takes in youth those I would have kept on earth till they were older. God is peopling eternity and I must not restrict Him to old men and women. 

Oswald Chambers, Keith Green

One of the truths of this passage is that on the way to heaven He never leaves us alone. We may have feelings we are alone, but the fact i He is always with us. The two pillars show that. He was witht he people in the day and in the night, all day long and all night long.

Proverbs 12:28 In the way of righteousness there is life;along that path is immortality.