We have heard your prayer for revelation and guidance and for a clearer understanding, and we take it as a gracious sign that you desire to be led aright. The heart that asks to be guided has already felt the work of grace within, for by nature we do not love to be guided, but grace dethrones obstinacy and gives in its place acquiescence in the divine will, and by that very submission we are furnished with unerring guidance.
Be assured of this, that true wisdom and true understanding must come to us by revelation from God, for we cannot find it by our own efforts. A grain of divine grace is worth more than a ton of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. It is not due to any natural intelligence that we possess, for we were by nature blind as bats to the things of divine truth, but grace comes and enlightens the understanding, influences the will, and changes the affections. The Lord has written to us His divine message in the rugged grandeur and sublime simplicity of Scripture which even a child can comprehend, and the revelation He has made directs our faith to Himself and to His dear Son. Therefore seek your guidance there, in the Word, with prayer and a holy submission to His counsel, for He has promised, Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Take heed also against haste, for haste is the author of a great deal of mischief in human life. Holiness is as near akin to perfect wisdom as sin is to insanity, and the soul that waits upon the Lord in quiet trust shall not be put to confusion. Divine wisdom, dressed in robes of love and tenderness, invites you to run into her arms, and at the right moment the Lord will bring forth some new and surprising stroke of wisdom which He did but postpone to the particular moment, so that the praise may the more fully redound to His name.
We join our prayers to yours in the name of Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have access to the Father.
O Lord our God, look upon this seeking soul who asks for light. Grant not a fleeting fancy nor the voice of self will, but true revelation by Thy Spirit through Thy Word. Give a clear understanding of divine truth, that it may not rest in the mind alone but become a sanctifying word received into the heart, leading to repentance, to holiness, and to a steadfast trust in Christ. Guide with Thy counsel, keep from the paths of error and from hasty steps, and make Thy will plain. Give wisdom liberally to them that ask in faith, and let Thy grace be their compass across the trackless waste of life. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.