Taking God's lead

It’s safe to say that people generally want to be happy and successful in what they do. So, whether we're making small decisions in our day-to-day lives, or a large decision that will impact us in a big way, why might it be beneficial to one’s happiness and success to seek divine guidance and let God “take the lead”?

Christ Jesus taught that God is good. I have learned through the study of Christian Science that good isn’t merely a descriptor for God; but the essence, nature and being of God is actual, concrete good. Taking God’s lead really means to yield to that good - to the divine Good that is God. Turning to infinite unlimited Good to guide can lead to better opportunities than a limited human mind is capable of producing. Why? Because even the best-intentioned human concept has inherent limitations. Trusting God as divine Good, and listening and following God’s guidance can circumvent the fear, doubt, rigidness or personal will that can put an otherwise good idea at risk of failure.  

It’s not like God is waiting for us to ask before producing good for us. God’s goodness is ever present – always accessible and available to us. But do we always see the good or feel it? Maybe not. And yet it is there, already in place and waiting for us. Sometimes what is needed is a shift from fear to trust - from a rigid or narrow focus on a question to yielding to the infinite possibilities or answers that are right at hand.

God’s guidance isn’t always a “the writing is on the wall” experience, though it sometimes is. Many times guidance is found as we listen for thoughts of good that come to us from God - what Christian Science teaches to be angel messages – that are discoverable in our own thought. Monitor founder Mary Baker Eddy explained that we can recognize God’s angels or inspired thoughts coming to us by the love they create in our hearts. She wrote, “Oh may you feel this touch – it is not the clasping of hands, nor a loved person present; it is more than this: it is a spiritual idea that lights your path!” It is love that sifts out any limited personal agenda or mere human will.

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​The Bible offers a simple prayer for guidance:  “Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Psalms 61) The divine Love that is God is a rock to turn to and lean on, a solid foundation on which to base inspired action. Divine Love is the only Ego, and God’s children reflect this divine Ego, Love, as the image and likeness of God. (See Gen. 1) Divine Love compels us to yield to unlimited good and break free of any limits of a personal mind or ego which misunderstands and misrepresents who we are and what we can do as children of God.

I can’t speak for everyone, but when I have felt pushed and pulled with the wants and wishes of a personal ego, I haven’t felt loved or loving. Making human plans and setting personal goals has rarely worked out well for me in the long term and often left me disappointed when things didn’t go the way I would have liked. It’s not that the angels haven’t been there.  But I have found it hard to hear them when a personal ego has been shouting. It has only been through turning from ego to God to quietly listen for spiritual direction, that I have found a way forward.

I once applied for a position I wanted and wasn’t taken. I wouldn’t say I wasn’t listening for God’s guidance. I was. It was a good job that would be a blessing to many. It was a good idea to apply, but I wasn’t taken. I didn’t see at the time how much I had yet to learn about not pushing my own will to go faster or further than God was leading me. I applied several more times for the same job over the course of many years. And each time the answer was no. Each no, while disappointing, compelled me to appreciate the present good and to develop other opportunities. I learned that I could bloom wherever I was planted.

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​The last time I applied – after fifteen years - I asked God if I should even try again. And the intuition was that, yes, I should. But with this direction came the realization that I should also trust God’s leading of others whose job it was to decide if I would get to do it or not. I hadn’t thought of that before. My focus had always been on God guiding me – and my wanting to do it.  But my role was simply to apply. Others were charged with the final decision. And suddenly that was enough for me. I felt a surge of love for everyone in the decision-making process. I trusted them because I trusted God to guide them, just as I was being guided. I applied and that time I got the job. In hindsight, I can see how different my circumstances were, how much better prepared I was, and how I wouldn’t have had the same rich experience in that work had I been taken any of those other times.
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God’s guidance is a precious thing to seek, and an invaluable thing to find. Divine Good really is our best advocate. God is Love, and divine Love demands the best for us and the best of us. Letting Love take the lead is key to living a life of blessing, and a life of being blessed.

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