LESSON 3
“To lead them on the way.” (Exodus 13:21)
1. The second truth and second anchor is “to lead them on the way.”
2. He was leading the children of Israel in the way they should go and He too leads us the same way. This is one of the greatest securities (a most trusted anchor) that we could ever have. To know that we are following in the way God is leading is of unspeakable value.
3. If we find our self in a certain place and we have been obedient to the best of our knowledge we can have confidence that God has led us there. If we belong to the Lord we are under His care. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14)
4. The leading of God dos not always necessitate the consciousness of it. It is better to get our anchor from the Word of God than from our consciousness or feelings.
5. When we are brought by God to a place which does not seem to our consciousness or reasoning to be the plan of God, we will need the God has –been-leading-you anchor. It is the sure Word of God; “He leadeth me,” (Psalm 23:2) His divine arrangement may not look like His leading, but when the second anchor becomes ours, the winds of doubt can blow their fiercest without adversely affecting us.
6. We must not attempt to lead ourselves. He is leading. We must not attempt to go in a direction which we have chosen. Do not of your own prerogative (choice) decide that this is the way in which I am going to go. If God us the prerogative to choose that’s okay, but we must not take the prerogative our self.
7. We may find our self in a situation where we must make a choice without any awareness of God’s leading. If we have been walking in His will and the righteousness of God the choice we make will be the leading of God for us without us being cognizant of it. Our habitual walk in righteousness will simply continue; thus our choices will be the proper one.
8. The children of Isreal followed the cloud. It was not the way which they chose. It was the way in which God chose. If we can follow the leading of God we put our self in a great advantage. If, at the same time, we can be truly convinced in our heart that we indeed are in truth and are following the leading of God, we put our self in a greater advantage. This assurance will hold us firmly in dreadful storms.
9. Instead of being dashed upon the rocks we are safely going through the storm. God has led us and is still leading us. Know it! Believe it! “For He who has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of water He will guide them.” (Isaiah 49:10b) God said it. It is His word. It is certain.
10. When we come to know the Lord as our personal Savior, we come to the One Who is to be our Shepherd. He carries the lambs in His arms. He faithfully shepherds the sheep. The leading of God is not only for the one who has a long experience in walking with Him. Oh no, God’s leading is arranged for us at the beginning of our coming into relationship with Him.
11. First He has led us out of death into life. Certainly from that point we can trust Him to continue lading us in His own path, along His own ways for our betterment and our well-being. He led us out from death even before we knew Him. Certainly He can lead us as His child.
12. Having such an abundance of appropriate passage in the Word of God we certainly should know that God is leading us. When the leading seems so strange that we do not believe it to be His, we still have His word to assure us. Jeremiah has shared his experience with us, “He (God) hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into the light,” (Lamentations 3:2)
12. When we come into difficult areas, let us look back to the fact that we did not move into it on our prerogative (if that is the case). God led us there. This difficult leading seems to be an unreasonable leading of God. It is not unreasonable, it is proper. We will be aware of it when we open our eyes and see nothing but darkness. It is not necessary that we understand our present plight of darkness is appropriate.
13. It is only necessary that we understand God has led us there. We may wonder how we got there, our trusted friends will tell us we have sinned. No we arrived there by following the leading of God. How do we think the children of Israel got into the wilderness? They did not want to go to the wilderness they wanted to go to the land that flowed with milk and honey. They followed God’s leading.
14. The Israelites followed the cloud. The cloud led them, not to the land which flows with milk honey, but to the wilderness. Now if we can understand, in our inner man, God has led us this way we will have the anchor we need. We do not have to understand why. If we know that God cares for us, then we can trust Him to lead us and we can trust His leading.
15. We can also believe that we are brought along the paths of His choosing. We can believe that God is still there with us, leading us in spite of the circumstances.
16. When this truth of God’s leading grips us to a sufficient degree and intensity, then, regardless if the situation or storm our anchor holds. We are secure held by truth. It comes to us not to slay that which He wants kept alive, but to bring His qualities into our lives and preserve them there. Truth has come to us for the purpose of holding us securely in its certainty. Truth comes to us to bring us into restrictions and limitations so that we can operate freely in God. Regardless where we find our self as the result of the leading of God we can be function and flow free from circumstances and situations.
17. “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of dead, I will fear no evil.” (Psalm 23:3) In the valley of the shadow of death we have certain anchors which hold us fast. Even there we can have certain pillars of faith, certain truths. Truth will hold us steady as we go through a most trying and most difficult place.
