Choosing a Trustworthy Guide - Martin Wiles

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8 NLT

Although I had never seen this person before, I chose him as a trustworthy guide—at least for the next hour.

My wife and I were on vacation in the mountains of Tennessee and wanted to visit somewhere we hadn’t been before. Forbidden Caverns popped up in our search as near our location and on the way home. I visited caverns as a child, but many years had passed since I had walked beneath the earth’s surface.

We anxiously waited in the lobby for our guide to appear. After he did, he led us down a hallway and stopped us at the end of the ramp. He introduced himself and explained what we would do.

As we toured our designated pathways, I noticed many more walkways spinning off in various directions. Knowing how dark it would be if the electricity failed, I was glad we had a guide who knew the layout, had the means to contact help, and could provide accurate information about the cave’s history and the present forms of life that lived there.

God told David he would guide him along life’s pathway—advising him along the way—and David trusted him to do so. After all, he had guided him while he was a shepherd boy and did the same when he became king of Israel.

God Is Competent

God is a trustworthy guide because he’s competent. Our cave guide didn’t make the cave, but he knew it intimately. He had been trained and could now lead others.

God Is Sovereign

God is sovereign. He made the earth, currently guides all the affairs on earth, and will culminate the end by making a new heaven and a new earth. He is all-wise and all-powerful. He dwells in the future we’ve not experienced. He knows our future, has good plans for our future, and will guide us into it if we let him.

God Is a Helper

God can also provide the help we need along life’s journey. When trials, tribulations, and confusing times affront us, he can give us the power to overcome and the wisdom to make the right decisions.

All the above make God a trustworthy guide. I’ve used maps, people, GPSs, and phone apps to guide me, but they all failed at some point. God never will.

God Is a Guide

Choose God as your trustworthy guide to maneuver you through the often-confusing thing called life.

Father, I trust you to guide me through the dangerous and confusing obstacles along life’s journey. 

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Series: Oh, the Things We Say: Fear the Lord - Martin Wiles

You must fear the Lord your God and worship him and cling to him. Deuteronomy10:20 NLT

Being around something or someone I’m scared of is not my favorite thing to do. Nor was my favorite thing being told to fear the Lord.

I have real and perceived fears. My fear was real when bears entered a fellow camper’s campsite and devoured their food—twice. My son and I were camped in a three-sided shelter a mere fifty feet away. The same bears could have easily walked into our shelter and devoured us.

As a child, my fear of the dark could have been real or imagined. Although Dad was fond of saying there was nothing in the dark that wasn’t there in the light, I never believed him. Some dangers are present at night that are not present during the day. But I did imagine some of my fears associated with darkness.

Early in life, Dad taught me to fear the Lord. At the same time, he wanted me to love the Lord. I don’t typically love or choose to be around those I fear. If I fear them, I perceive that some danger hangs around them. Loving and fearing God seemed like an ironic situation, and I was unsure of how to do both.

The command combines fear, worship, and association. If we usually avoid what we fear, but God wants us to worship and associate with him, fear must have another definition. And it does. Fear can involve being afraid of something or someone. Defined in such a manner, we would avoid that person or thing. Fear can also mean to reverence. And this is the definition God has in mind when he tells us to fear him.

When we reverence God, we stand in awe of him. In one sense, we should fear him. He has life and death power over our existence. With the utterance of one command, our hearts would stop and our breath cease. He is sovereign over people and the universe.

Although fear can involve fright, God wants us to love and revere him. So great was his desire for fellowship with people that he allowed his Son to die for our sins on Calvary. We should stand in awe of Him, but we also consider him as our Savior and friend. He has accepted us into his family and invited us to come into his presence as often as we like.

Let your fear of God lead you to him, not away.

Father, I love you for who you are and for what you’ve done on my behalf. 

I invite you to try my book A Whisper in the Woods: Quiet Escapes in a Noisy World. No one escapes life's hurts, but quiet places help us regain our perspective. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

When Darkness Closes In - Martin Wiles

A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles. Daniel 6:17 NLT

Total darkness frightens me.

My wife and I drive away total darkness in our home by placing night lights at selective places. One in the bathroom allows us to see how to use the facilities at night without turning on a lamp or overhead light. Night lights in the den keep our animals satisfied.

But total darkness didn’t seem to bother Daniel. Jealousy drove his enemies to arrange a deal with the king, which resulted in Daniel being thrown to the lions. Reading his story in the Bible can mask how dark this experience truly was. No overhead lights or oil lamps decorated the den. Daniel sat, stood, or lay in total darkness. He heard the lions pacing and roaring. He probably smelled their wild scent but never saw how closely they approached him.

The trials and tribulations of life can bring what appears to be total darkness. I’ve experienced quite a few such periods. This much I know: total darkness never indicates God’s absence. Our sin or God’s testing may have ushered in the darkness, but God never leaves our side regardless of the cause of the darkness. He is still working. If we’ve sinned, we need to confess and repent. If He is testing us, we need to develop our trust in Him to do the right thing.

In periods of total darkness, God can and often does feel nearer. Darkness reminds us that we control nothing. God does. His ways are higher, and His thoughts are beyond our understanding. He is the creator and controller. Our duty is to walk by faith.

Daniel was in darkness because of the work of his enemies. Satan can bring periods of darkness. The Bible compares him to a prowling lion. Daniel’s episode reminds us God has the power to close his mouth. Satan is on God’s leash and can only do what he is allowed to do. God commands the darkness.

When our periods of darkness are over, we need to help someone else understand God’s power and compassion. Daniel witnessed to the king about his God. God doesn’t want us to waste our experiences but rather to use them to help someone else.

When your periods of darkness creep in, remember who controls them.

Father, when periods of darkness come, I ask You to shine Your light around them.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Reach for the Light - Martin Wiles

They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. Romans 2:15 NLT

“Every year, this random flower comes up.”

An early morning Snap and a picture arrived on my phone from my daughter. Like the flower, our conversations are sometimes random as well. Not that we don’t communicate regularly, but what we communicate about and how long we communicate suits her generation’s style of talking.

“It’s a hyacinth and a bulb flower,” I responded.

“But I pulled it up two years ago before landscaping my yard, and I put a grass barrier down over the area.”

I told her she obviously didn’t get the bulb. “God designed it to reach for the light, and that’s what it’s doing.”

I got the traditional hand-over-the-face meme when I told her this would make a good writing topic. But she got the point.

My wife and I have had flowers do the same thing. We once decided to plant Mexican petunias, not knowing they were considered invasive—that is, they spread like crazy. We worked for months and even years to eliminate them when we decided we didn’t want them anymore. But each spring, some magically appeared again. They were reaching for the light—doing what God designed them to do.

Romans is Paul’s theological dissertation, and in this section, he demonstrates how all people—even those God had not communicated with through the law—still knew what the law was and were responsible to Him. God might not have given them a written law as He did the Jewish people, but He placed the knowledge of right and wrong in their minds. They instinctively knew the difference.

Everyone reaches for the Light. The problem comes in knowing what light we’re reaching for and how we’re supposed to reach the light. Without knowing God’s commands and principles, we’ll always reach in the wrong direction. If a seed or bulb sprouts and goes downward, it will never see the light of day—or grow and do what God designed for it to do.

Left to ourselves, we seek the Light in evil and twisted ways. We pervert relationships, sex, technology, jobs, communities, cities, and the entire world. God created good in us, but when we intermingle it with our sinful nature, we reach for the Light in corrupted ways.

The instinctive thing God wants us to know is that we reach Him, the Light, only by repentance and faith. Once we’ve done that, we can grow, bloom, and produce fruit in healthy and beneficial ways that make the world better.

When my daughter sent me the Snap of the flower, it was in full bloom. My wife and I have grown them before. The bloom doesn’t last long—like most spring bulb plants. But our bloom . . . well, that’s another story. Reaching the Light correctly sets us up to bloom our entire lifetime.

Think of some ways you can bloom for the Light.

Father, help me to bloom brightly for You. 

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Ruled by Fear - Martin Wiles

Wishing all our readers a Happy New Year. 

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7 NLT

Sleep in the backyard in a tent? And in the dark? At the time, Fred was ruled by fear of darkness.

Like many children, Fred feared the dark. His parents had talked to him, telling him nothing existed in the dark that didn’t in the light. Even as a youngster, he knew that wasn’t true. What about all those dangerous animals he never saw in the daylight? Try as he might, Fred couldn’t shake the fear.

Then, one day at school, Rad suggested a camping adventure in his backyard. The thought of sleeping in a tent at night terrified Fred—even if it was only in Rad’s backyard. Not wanting to admit his fear to my friend and risk him telling their friends, Fred agreed.

The experience was worse than Fred imagined. Without divulging his fear, Fred convinced Rad to leave a light on in the bathroom to see how to get to the facilities should they need to use them during the night. Rad agreed. However, Rad had an evil sister who somehow discerned Fred’s fear and ensured she extinguished the light before going to bed. Fred didn’t sleep a wink. His imagination inflated, and he heard every noise. By the time the first rays of daylight peeped over the horizon, he was a nervous wreck.

I’ve struggled with this and other fears myself. Darkness wasn’t my friend when I was younger, either. Dad tried to help me defeat it by sending me into the backyard alone. It didn’t work. Now a senior adult, I’m still a little nervous when confronting the darkness without some light.

Although God has instilled in us a healthy sense of fear, He doesn’t expect it to lead to unhealthy emotional reactions. Avoiding a dangerous neighborhood is just good sense. Stepping into the path of an oncoming semi and thinking God will stop it isn’t. God gives us the wisdom to avoid dangerous situations through the instilled emotion of fear. We depend on Him to protect us from those beyond our control. And He’s promised He would.

Conquering unreasonable fears starts when we admit to God that we have them. Once we’ve done that, we can lean on Him for strength to face and overcome them. 

Father, I ask you to deliver me from unreasonable fears.  

Tweetable: What fears rule your life? 

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When Darkness Abounds - Martin Wiles

Darkness is all around me; thick, impenetrable darkness is everywhere. Job 23:17 NLT

He needed no flashlight—and feared nothing. I did.

My first job after graduating high school was with Orkin Exterminating Company working under houses. Doing so wasn’t a pleasant experience. Broken sewer lines, snakes, snake skins, low areas, protruding nails, spiders, junk. I saw it all.

An older gentleman trained me. What amazed me about him was he never used his flashlight when he went underneath a house—until he reached the area where work was needed. Me, on the other hand? I used mine before I ever stuck my head under the house. It wasn’t so much the darkness that bothered me, but what I knew could be in the darkness. I wanted light.

Darkness surrounded Job. Because of a test between God and Satan concerning why Job obeyed God, Job had lost everything but his life—and that hung in the balance. Family, real estate, servants. All gone. Except for a wife who told him to curse God and die, which he refused to do.

Dark periods punctuate life’s journey. Death, disease, pain, brokenness, rebellion, unforgiveness, financial ruin. Whatever the darkness, someone … many people … have experienced it. And we don’t always know the purpose. Job didn’t. He didn’t know God had given Satan permission to ruin his life just to prove Job would remain faithful to God—regardless of how terrible things became.

But there is purpose. Fate does not rule the world—or our lives. God controls our journey and allows or brings certain things to grow us spiritually, to test our faithfulness, and to teach us things about ourselves we need to know.

What we need in the dark periods is light. Light brought an entirely new perspective to my under-the-house experiences. And the light of Christ does the same for dark periods. Through gut-wrenching prayer, intense periods of meditation on God’s Word, and the counsel of spiritually mature friends, light shines into our dark periods.

As the old man plunged under the houses with no light, so we can plunge into our dark periods with confidence God will bring good from them. Job did. He said, “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last” (19:25).

Darkness may surround you, but remember God provides the light that will get you through each day.

Prayer: Father, give us light in our dark periods so our faith and trust in You will grow.

Tweetable: Whom do you trust when darkness abounds?

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Throwback Tuesday - God in the Darkness - Martin Wiles

God in the Darkness

As a child, I feared it. As an adult, it’s still not my favorite thing to walk into.

My dad attempted to calm my fear of darkness by sending me into an unlit yard, explaining there was nothing in the dark that wasn’t there in the light. As an adult, I realize that isn’t always true. Even now when I walk in the darkness, I’m constantly looking behind and ahead of me to make sure no strangers or animals are lurking about. Read more...

Tweetable: What are your fears keeping you from? 

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When Darkness Closes In - Martin Wiles

A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles. Daniel 6:17

Total darkness can be frightening.

My wife and I drive away the total darkness in our home by placing night lights at selective places. One in the bathroom makes it possible for us to see how to use the bathroom at night without having to turn on a lamp or overhead light. Night lights in the den keep our animals satisfied. 

Total darkness didn’t seem to bother Daniel. Jealousy drove his enemies to arrange a deal with the king that resulted in Daniel being thrown to the lions. Reading his story in the Bible can mask how dark this experience truly was. No overhead lights or oil lamps decorated the den. Daniel sat, stood, or laid in total darkness. He heard the lions pacing and roaring. He probably smelled their wild hides but never saw how closely they came to him. 

The trials and tribulations of life can bring what appears to be total darkness. I’ve experienced quite a few such periods. This much I know: total darkness never indicates God’s absence. My sin or God’s testing may have ushered in the darkness, but God never leaves my side regardless of the cause of the darkness. He is still working. If I’ve sinned, I need to confess and repent. If He is testing me, I need to develop my trust in Him to do the right thing. 

In periods of total darkness, God can and often does feel nearer. Darkness reminds me I control nothing. God does. His ways are higher than mine, and His thoughts are beyond my understanding. He is the creator and controller. My duty is to walk by faith. 

Daniel was in darkness because of the work of his enemies. Satan can bring periods of darkness. The Bible compares him to a prowling lion. Daniel’s episode reminds me God has the power to close his mouth. Satan is on God’s leash and can only do what he is allowed to do. God commands the darkness.

When my periods of darkness are over, I need to help someone else understand God’s power and compassion. Daniel witnessed to the king about his God. God doesn’t want me to waste my experience but rather to use it to help someone else. 

How are you reacting when your periods of darkness creep in?

Prayer: Father, when our periods of darkness come, we ask You to shine Your light around them.

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