Guidance

Review: God Leads Personally

/ rtrube54 / 1 Comment

God Leads Personally: Why It’s True and How It Works, Robert DiSilvestro. Seville, OH: Bezalel Media, 2023.

Summary: A biblical exploration of how God leads people, concluding that God leads people personally and not just by general principle, and how we may be led by God and avoid deception.

One thing that marks followers of Jesus is that they want to know and do the will of God. The Bible addresses many aspects of the will of God in terms of commands, prohibitions, as well as numerous principles. But is the only way that God speaks to us is through what he has spoken that is recorded in scripture? That is the question being asked in this book by Robert DiSilvestro, an emeritus faculty member best known for his speaking on apologetics with groups of students and in other settings.

He specifically engages the contention of another author, Jim Osman, who argues in God Doesn’t Whisper that since the completion of the writing of the Bible God speaks only through the general instruction of scripture. DiSilvestro embarked on an extensive study of the Bible itself, observing the ways in which God leads and concludes that God’s speaking is not limited to the Bible and that God does lead personally.

First DiSilvestro offers arguments from scripture that show that God does still lead personally and then in the latter part of the books, shows so far as scripture instructs, how that works, and how we may avoid deception. DiSilvestro grounds his case in the truth that God desires personal relationship with his people through Christ in the present and shows how we may enjoy that relationship. Then he shows how God gives guidance, particularly that he directly gives wisdom (cf. James 1:5-8). He addresses the contention that God stopped personal communication after the Bible was completed, citing the lack of any evidence from the Bible that this would be and a preponderance of evidence that God does want to lead his people personally. He also examines the texts Osman cites and shows how Osman’s argument cannot be made from these texts. And he addresses the contention that the Lord’s prayer says nothing about listening by the observations that the prayer is addressed to a Father, an intimate relation that involves speaking and listening and prays for the Father’s will to be done.

DiSilvestro then turns to how we experience this leading. He encourages both expectancy that God will speak and effort in seeking, including obeying the will of God we already know from scripture (in this, he would be in agreement with Osman). He also makes a surprising admission that I found refreshing: “The Bible says a lot more about how to hear from God than I realized, but a lot less than I wanted” [bold in the text] (p. 53). He believes that this is because God leads not by blueprint or formula but in relationship and that we see both ways in scripture God does so without detailed explanation of how this happened. That rang true for me as I reflected on times where I knew clearly God’s leading in a personal situation (and it proved to be so) but I could not entirely say how I knew–a matter of trust in God rather than certainty.

He goes on to show a variety of ways God leads in scripture: God himself resolves situations, letting others given for our good to make a decision, through a spiritually trained mind. He discusses the instances and circumstances where God speaks audibly, leads through visions and dreams, and through quieter, more subjective leadings of the Spirit. He also offers safeguards, including that leadings never contradict clear teaching of scripture or dishonor Christ, that they are often confirmed by other guidance processes, that they reflect the Spirit’s fruit and humility, and so forth. He observes how such leading may lead to a compelling conviction. He addresses how God’s Spirit works in partnership with our minds in speaking and prayer. He addresses the gifts of the Spirit in our ministry within the body, other impartations of the Spirit including a sense of or lack of peace, how to reckon with circumstantial guidance, means like lots.

An important chapter addresses the role of others in Christian community in helping each other hear from God. Others in the community are implicit in many of the discussions throughout, but perhaps because of the focus on God leading personally, the treatment of God leading through community or even of God leading whole communities might be further developed.

Perhaps the most impressive part of this work is the author’s commitment to set forth only what scripture says but also all that scripture says about how God leads in our lives. He’s honest to admit where he’s made mistakes and what he has learned–he frees us from the pressure to get it perfect–that God restores when we err and keeps teaching and leading. And he frames all of this in a relationship with God through trust in Christ and the indwelling work of God’s Spirit, which he wants for all his readers. He helps us see that God offers far more than abstract and general guidance, he offers us Himself as Guide.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author for review.

Review: Finding Your Yes

/ rtrube54 / 3 Comments

Finding Your Yes, Christine E. Wagoner. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2021.

Summary: An exploration of what it means to listen for God’s invitations and say “yes” to them.

One of the questions I often dealt with in student ministry was how one knows God’s will. Christine Wagoner, in Finding Your Yes, suggests that one of the key aspects of this is listening for God’s invitations, and that implies that God is even more interested in guiding us, at times, than we are to be guided.

The book is divided into two parts. The first is “Getting to Yes.” She begins by confessing that “yes” has often begun with “no.” She illustrates this with the story of how she kept saying “no” to writing as well as to teaching a woman’s group in her church and how Jesus pursued her until she said “yes.” She discusses all the “not me” obstacles we erect to those invitations, and how Jesus can shift our perspective, as he did with the woman at the well. She addresses the places of inner resistance, particularly our fear of failure. She tells stories of people who began with small “yesses” and how these led into bigger things. And she discusses how we grow in our yes through partnership and debriefing.

The second part is “Staying with your Yes.” Yes doesn’t automatically lead to a promised land of fruitful life. Sometimes “yes” involves waiting, as it did for Abraham, or recalibrating, when a reality we’ve said “yes” to, like motherhood, is not being fulfilled. Sometimes we say “yes” and life seems to fall apart. Were we mistaken? Sometimes “yes” takes us to a place of pain. Some of this is complicated by lies of the enemy: “this will destroy you”, “if, as a woman, you keep growing as a leader, you will never get married.” She talks about how we sometimes say “no” without exploring the possibility of yes and sometimes have a “no” concealed in our “yes.” I did find myself wondering in this chapter about discerning when God is inviting us to say “no” in order to say “yes.” Finally, she concludes with the joy of a life of saying “yes” again and again.

Wagoner shares a lot of her own experiences of God’s little and bigger invitations, her struggles to find her way to “yes” and then to live into those “yesses.” She writes as a woman leader, single until approaching forty. Her story may help other women who struggle with what saying “yes” to God may mean in terms of marriage and family, and where the use of one’s gifts defy traditional gender role expectations. But the basic message of the book speaks to men as well as women. God’s invitations come to all of us, and we all find ways to try to deflect them, or struggle within ourselves to say “yes.”

As we approach the new year, this book may be helpful as we consider what God may be inviting us to say “yes” to in the coming year. The questions at the end of each chapter are great to talk over with a trusted friend. As Wagoner reminds us, we often grow into and through our “yesses” with partners on the journey. Wagoner’s book can also be a partner in the journey of finding your yes.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.