Only When Asked

And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. (Acts 7:31 NKJV)

Without guidance, it is nearly impossible for people to understand and find their way.  This is true in every area of our life.  From intellectually to emotionally to physically to spiritually, if we are not shown the way, it is difficult to find it on our own.

The wisest man on earth, King Solomon, said, “There is nothing new under the sun.”  That means that someone else has already experienced whatever we discover or learn.  And the learning curve on life can be cut radically short if we are open to discipleship.  The problem comes in that many people are not.  Rather than look at the road map, they keep thinking that they will eventually figure out the way themselves.  And eventually, they may, but at the cost of many lost hours and sometimes years. 

This idea of being guided through life begs the question of why so many people resist the help of a mentor who has already learned the shortest route to success.  And the answer lies within the human heart.  It is the very root and source of our inability to hear the answers – not just from God, but from our brothers and sisters in Christ.  The problem is called pride. 

Pride is the direct result of the fall of Adam and Eve.  Prior to Eve stepping out into her own path of decision, this couple lived completely and totally upon the understanding and guidance of God.  It was Eve’s departure from this God-dependence that left her in the state of self-dependence, and it has been the undoing of man ever since.

God created a perfect world.  The paths were determined, the principles set, the systems in balance.  Eve’s one decision threw the entire world out of kilter.  And the worse part of her decision was that it was irreversible because it had opened the Pandora’s box of self-determination.  Eve had stepped away from a God-given path to create her own path.  She had left the safety of what was already predetermined to find a different way – her own way.  She called what was wrong right and set the course for humanity to struggle constantly with that decision every day of our lives.  That, in its purest form, is pride.  It is reliance upon self rather than God.  And that’s why the Bible says that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  He cannot and will not honor a way, other than the perfect one He has created because all others fall radically short of His glory.

The only remedy for pride is the position taken by the Eunuch.  In humility, he admits his insufficiency, and invites the mentor to step into his life.  It has been well said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.  But until humility is embraced, the human heart is incapable of being guided – even by God.

I need to humble myself daily so that I can accept guidance from God in whatever shape and form it may come – even through a donkey, if necessary.