You plead for visions from God, lest you follow your own goals. This is a wise fear, for the carnal heart ever spins its own web of vanity. But know this, the vision which keeps men from perishing is not a flight of ecstatic fancy nor a private revelation apart from the Word. It is the sight of God Himself, His will made known, His truth impressed upon the soul by the Spirit, so that the man is bound to walk not after his own lusts, but after the divine command. When the Holy Ghost illuminates the Scripture, and you behold the Lord high and lifted up, and hear the rod of His authority, then you have that vision which snatches a man from chaos and makes him live indeed.
You ask prayer that you may receive these visions. I would not merely pray for you, but I would set you in the way where such sights are given. The revealed will of God in this Book, from the first word of Genesis to the last line of Revelation, is the seat of all true vision. It will never mislead you; it has never misled anybody. But you must come to it not as a critic, but as a pupil, crying, “Open Thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.” Learn it, and then teach it, and so shall the truth be kept sweet and alive. The soul that hoards knowledge breeds mildew; he that sows it reaps freshness. Your own goals will wither under the plough of that sacred study, for the Word is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder soul and spirit, and it discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Yet more. It is the very office of the Spirit to make you willing in the day of God’s power, to work in you to will and to do of His own good pleasure. He does not override your agency as a man, but He so sweetly inclines your affections and enlightens your understanding that you freely choose what God decrees. Then you will not merely say, “I will do this or that,” but always, in thought if not in word, “If the Lord will.” The fool grows brutish when he fancies that he can both propose and dispose without asking God’s consent. But the child of God, beholding the divine will as the axle of the universe, bows before the great “I will” of Jehovah, those “shalls” and “wills” which depend not upon the fickle nod of man. When you see that, you will not dare to run after your own private goals; you will be mastered by a heavenly purpose, and your life will move in the orbit He has traced.
So then, I charge you: seek not signs and wonders, but turn your eye to the cross. There is the vision which slays all pride. Look into His hands and His feet; read there the terrible writing of divine vengeance against sin. When you see what your sin cost Him, your own petty ambitions will be burned up. And remember, if you are Christ’s, you are not your own; you are bought with a price. He did not pluck you as a brand from the burning merely to let you follow your own devices. He will not leave His purpose half accomplished. Walk, then, in the light of that vision, and as you do, you shall find His fatherly pity bearing with your slowness, teaching you nineteen times, then twenty times, because He pities your dust.
Therefore, let this be your prayer, not that you see strange things, but that you may know the will of God and do it. And let your resolution stand firm: “I will go back to the Lord’s way, for His God has spoken to me. I will bear the yoke, I will keep His statutes, I will wait upon Him; and whatsoever mine eyes may see, I will trust not in them but in His sure Word.” So shall you not perish for lack of vision. The eternal God will be your guide even unto death.