Jesus Take Me By The Hand

Life is like a maze. There are many twists and turns from the time of one's birth to their death. How does a person try to navigate this maze? Some do it on instincts. They follow their gut feelings. Others use their intellect, logic and common sense. Others defer to a leader to guide them through. A father figure, boss, politician, guru, spouse or trusted friend.

I defer to Jesus. No matter where I am supposed to go He knows the way. He has already been there and knows the way. So I pray a simple prayer, "Jesus, take me by the hand and lead the way." What does that really mean? Am I asking Jesus to physically take me by the hand to lead me? He has never done this at any point in my journey with Him. He has guided me along the way though. So what do I mean when I ask, "Jesus, take me by the hand and lead me."

To be perfectly honest I do not know where He wants to take me between now and the end of my life. I cannot predict the future. If you had asked me my freshman year in college where I thought my life was headed I can tell you in hindsight I was dead wrong on all fronts. I have been wrong plenty of times in the past. I thought I knew best and was wrong time and again. I don't know the way through this maze. I don't what is ahead or which way to turn to get where Jesus wants me. So I ask for His leadership.

Now I am wise enough to know I do not know all the plans God has for me. It has also been my experience that He does not reveal those plans up front most of the time. It is one step after another. God told Abraham to go to the land that He would reveal to him. [Gen 12:1-3] [Heb 11:8] Abraham obeyed by faith. One step after another God led him. There were times when Abraham leaned on his own understanding and nearly lost his wife and own life. We are not to lean on our own understanding. [Prov 3:5]

How did God lead Abraham during this time? There were no Bibles to read. No churches to attend. No conferences existed on how to discover God's will. There were no books to read on the subject either. How did God lead Abraham? Simple. God spoke to Abraham. Abraham cultivated a relationship with God and through their time together God impressed, spoke, guided and revealed the right path.

Does God still speak? Some say He does but only through scripture. Others list multiple ways God may speak; through the Holy Spirit, circumstances, other people, music, books, the Bible. Personally I think God can speak and guide us anyway He wants. He will not be boxed in by our limited understanding. As I have preached and written for years the primary place God speaks to me is through His word. I devote myself to the systematic reading of scripture yearly. It never fails God takes a verse or a passage and applies it directly to my life. This happens nearly every day.

There are other times when the Holy Spirit speaks to me. Not audibly. It is more like an inner prompting, a persistent nudging or a reoccurring thought or idea. Now let me admit right up front, there have been numerous times I did not get these right. There have been other times when I was spot on. Times when I prayed and felt a heavy burden for someone. I felt deeply impressed to pray for them and to make contact with them. On many occasions it proved to be a divine appointment. There were times when I declined ministry opportunities because I did not feel a peace about them or accepted others because I did feel God's peace about them.

I am not smart enough to navigate the maze of this life without Jesus' help. I can easily make the wrong decisions causing sorrow for me and my family. So I offer that little prayer for Jesus to take me by the hand. It reminds me when my boys were little and we walked through large crowds. I would take them by their tiny hand and lead them through. They were not tall enough to see where we were going. It really did not matter to them. They trusted me to get them where they needed to be safely.

My Heavenly Father loves all of us infinitely more than I love my boys. He is able to gently nudge , push and even drag if necessary to go where He wants. I voluntarily surrender my will and way to Him as I hope you do. He knows far better than me. I trust Him. I trust Him to speak and lead me however He chooses. I trust in essence Him to take me by the hand and to lead me all the way home.

When I say lead me home I am referring all the way into the afterlife. I will never truly be home until then. With each passing year I feel increasingly out of step with this world. I feel a little more like an alien in a foreign country. I don't value much of what this world values. I am not entertained but offended by what this world finds entertaining.

Even in all of that I trust Jesus to take me by the hand and to lead me. Step by step. Day by day. Week after week. Year by year. One devotion at a time. One Bible reading at a time. One prayer at a time. One impression and nudging at a time. I trust through all of this one day He reach out to me with His hand and pull me from this world into the next.

I have been walking around the house singing a hymn over and over again out loud. I am here alone like most days. So I can belt it out with nobody but God listening and Anna Bell our dog. Here I ago again. Feel fresh to sing along with me.

What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, 
And I look upon His face the One who saved me by His grace,
When He takes me by the hand and leads me thru the promised land,
What a day, glorious day that will be.* Jim Hill