You ask the Lord for guidance, that He would lead you according to His will every day, all your life. That is a prayer after God's own heart, and you may be sure it is one He delights to answer. The very desire stirring in you to pray it did not come from yourself; it was His own finger writing upon your soul. When a child looks up and asks her father, "Where shall I walk today?" she already has his ear. He has been waiting for that question. And your heavenly Father is not hard of hearing, nor slow to take your hand.
You feel, perhaps, that the way ahead is hidden, and you do not trust yourself to choose rightly. That very sense of need is a mercy. You have been made teachable, and a teachable spirit is a precious gift, far better than self-confidence. The man who thinks he can propose and dispose as he likes, who says, "Today or tomorrow I will do such and such a thing," and never lifts his eyes to the hills from whence his help comes, that man is walking in a fog of his own making. But you have learned a better wisdom. You know that a frail creature cannot steer his own course through so changeable a sea, and you have turned to the great Pilot. That is not weakness; that is the beginning of strength.
Now, do not imagine that God's guidance is a reluctant thing, wrung from Him by much pleading, as though He were a churl who must be worn down with words. It is His joy to lead you. His goodness is not merely well-wishing, a kind sentiment that sits inactive in the heart; no, He does good. He goes beyond wishes and words into acts. He who spared not His own Son but freely delivered Him up for you, will He now grudge you daily direction? Impossible. The greatest gift has already been given. All the daily mercies that follow are but the interest on that infinite principal. Your bread shall be given you, and your water shall be sure, and the path shall open before you step by step.
You need not see the whole journey. The lamp is for the feet, not for the horizon. To know the next step is enough, and God is very patient in teaching us that much. He took David early into His school, and He has taken you there as well. Perhaps you wish you could make out the shape of things a year from now, or even a week, but that is not given to us. And is that not kindness? If you could peer around the next bend, you might be frightened by what you saw, and yet that very thing, when you come to it with the Lord at your side, will prove to be light and momentary. Ignorance of the future is not our enemy when we know the One who holds the future. You may rest your whole weight upon Him.
Think of it this way: you are a brand that has been plucked out of the fire. You were once burning in the flame of sin, and He reached in and snatched you out. Does the hand that rescued you from that blaze now intend to leave you at the roadside with no direction home? Never. The same hand that plucked you from the burning is the hand that guides you now, and it is a pierced hand. It bears the mark of the nail. That hand cannot be faithless. It has too much love invested in you to drop you now.
So when you cry, "Lead me, Lord Jesus," you are not shouting into an empty sky. You are speaking to the Shepherd who calls His own sheep by name and goes before them. The path may dip into a valley, but He is there before you. It may climb a sharp ridge, but His footprints are already on the trail. Your business is simply to keep your eyes on Him and your hand in His, and to be willing to be led, willing, even when He says, "This way, not that one," or, "Sit still a while." The teachable spirit that receives the command without arguing is a happy spirit, a restful spirit, a growing spirit.
And remember this: you are not merely a wanderer looking for a guide. You are a jewel in His treasury, and He is polishing you. Every turn of providence, the puzzling one, the painful one, the sweet one, is the wheel of the great Lapidary cutting a new facet to catch His light. You may not understand the cutting, but you will shine all the brighter for it. He does not waste strokes. He does not make mistakes. What He reveals you are simply to accept, bowing the knee of your heart before it, trusting that He teaches to profit.
So go on praying that prayer every morning, and go on believing that it is heard. You cannot weary Him. His ear is never tired of the voice of His own child. And His answer may be quiet, a gentle restraint upon your conscience here, an open door there, a word from Scripture that suddenly glows with meaning, but it will be sure. The promise stands: "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine eye."
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Lord Jesus, You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Walk before this dear soul today, and every day, and all the days that remain. When the road is smooth, steady their feet so they do not wander. When the road is rough, keep them from falling. Let them not rush ahead of You, nor lag behind. Keep them humbly teachable, quietly trusting, and fully persuaded that the hand that leads them is both strong and gentle. And at the last, bring them into the land where the path ends at the gate, and the gate opens into glory. Amen.