Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK

“Steering You in the Right Direction!”
“Every word I speak is honest, not one is misleading or deceptive.” – Proverbs 8:8 (Contemporary English Version)

Remember as kids playing the game, “hot or cold?” An item is hid and a person is blindfolded attempting to find that item. There is another person who is letting the blindfolded one know if they are cold, meaning they are nowhere near the hidden object or if they are “hot”, indicating they are getting close to the item. The hope is that the person who can see is giving proper instruction and/or guidance so that the blinded individual will find their way.
You might say that in a way—just as we come into this world “hungry” (a reference to yesterday’s message) we also come into this world lacking proper guidance. We are in a very real sense…blind! We need someone (or something) to lead us!
John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was not a prolific hymn-writer, but he wrote one very powerful hymn that has been sung by Christians of many traditions for more than 175 years. He was thirty-two years old when he wrote it. Here is the opening stanza of what has become one of the world’s best-loved hymns:
Lead, kindly Light, amid th’ encircling gloom; Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home; Lead Thou me on! Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see the distant scene; one step enough for me.
In 1832, at the age of thirty-one, Newman had reached a low point in his young life. A convert to the Protestant faith at age 15 during an evangelical revival, Newman gradually shifted from Reformed Calvinism to the Anglican faith, and in 1825 he was ordained an Anglican priest. Eventually he would turn to Roman Catholicism (1845) and to the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1847.
In December 1832 Newman accompanied a friend via steamship to Southern Europe, primarily because of his friend’s medical condition. His friend recovered and returned to England, but Newman stayed behind in Sicily, where he became desperately ill with typhoid fever. After recovering from this illness, Newman was aboard a ship again, sailing from Palermo for Marseille, enroute to England and home. When the boat was stranded for days in the Strait of Bonifacio, Newman became depressed to the point of questioning the framework of his faith. At this spiritual low-point, Newman turned to the reading of the Psalms. The Psalms seemed to bring peace to his mind and soul. He was especially drawn to Psalm 25 (verses 4 and 5) and Psalm 119:105, from which he was inspired to write the words to the hymn, “Lead, Kindly Light.” Divine guidance is a truth taught throughout Scripture. It is not God’s plan that believers wander around trying to find their own way. Jesus addressed this in John 14:15-17, where he spoke about the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “If you love me, obey me, and I will ask the Father and he will give you another Comforter, and he will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who leads into all truth.” Further down in that chapter Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
The writer to the Hebrews was equally direct. He said;
“With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity.” (Hebrews 12:1, 2 Phillips Version)

Can we agree that God has a plan for our lives, and that if we ask; he will guide us in the direction we should take? And we can be assured He will guide us in the right direction!!
Pastor J. T. Carnell.