The Leading of the Lord

I have the honor of ministering and mentoring the next generation of spiritual leaders for the Bride of the Lord at Alaska Bible College. Though many of our students have a sense of God’s call upon their lives for full-time vocational ministry, many are not sure what the Lord wants them to do specifically. In my own journey with my Lord, the trajectory of His call has not been predictable or specifically mapped out for me. Do you wonder at times what the Lord’s will for your life is?

I have experienced that sometimes He shows us the way He desires and by His grace, we obey. Most the time, however, He calls us to obey and then by His grace He shows us the way. Thus if we demand that He shows us all the details and answers all our questions before we obey, we may find ourselves not walking in His way.

I love the testimony of Eliezer, the servant of Abraham found in Genesis 24:27. You remember that Abraham in obedience to the Lord’s clearly revealed will sent his servant back to Mesopotamia to find a wife for his son, Isaac. The Lord had made known to Abraham that it was not His will that Isaac marry a Canaanite wife as the Canaanites were not followers of Yahweh. So Eliezer, whose name means “God is my help,” obeyed God’s will and went back to find a wife from Abraham’s family in the city of Nahor. I love the way the KJV reads, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not left destitute my master from His mercy and His truth. I, being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s brothers.” (emphasis mine).

Sometimes God shows us the way and by His grace we obey, but most of the time, He calls to obey and then by His grace He shows us the way! Eliezer was in the way of obedience and in that way the Lord led Him to Rebekah who became Isaac’s wife. Many times we miss God’s leading in our lives because we are not willing to get “in the way,” and trust Him to direct our path.

Dr. David Ley is the President of Alaska Bible College.