Guided By Faith

Guided by Faith

They headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. Acts 16:7

AMY CARMICHAEL FIRST GAINED ministry experience in the slums of Belfast. Then she applied to the China Inland Mission but was denied because of her health. She then enlisted in the Church Missionary Society, which sent her to Japan, but after a time, her health forced her to return to England, where she almost decided she was never meant to be a long-term missionary. But an invitation to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and then to southern continental India began a fifty-five-year career in life-transforming, society-changing service. God had shut doors and opened them to get her to the place where she would have her most fruitful service.

Paul and his companions were twice redirected from the route they had planned to go—we don’t know specifically how, only that it was a matter of the Holy Spirit’s direction—and soon found themselves entering an open door to European regions they had not yet considered. Whether they felt frustrated at the time isn’t clear. But they ended up being grateful for God’s leading. Their new direction shaped history in ways they could hardly have imagined.

As much as we want clear direction from God telling us where to go and when—and he does give us that at times—he often uses the process of shutting and opening doors to direct us. It can be a frustrating experience if we don’t trust him in the process, but when we do, we find ourselves serving in the most fruitful, rewarding places. By faith, we take the next step—and the next and the next. We may long for the entire road map, but in his wisdom, God often gives us only the next turn, and then sometimes only after we think it’s too late. If we ever take a moment to look back, we realize that he has always been leading us, even when we weren’t aware. Our faith at times has resembled vague trust, but he has responded to it just as well. Believing he is the Lord of our steps, we find they turn out to be well-directed.

I know not the way God leads me, but well do I know my Guide.