The Bible And The Holy Spirit
“But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.” Jeremiah 7:23 NKJV
Every day the Lord is speaking to us to guide and direct us in our days but we have not been trained to have ears to listen for His voice. He has the direction we require for the specific situations we will face throughout the day.
One of the reasons we struggle to hear His voice is that we are not usually incorporating the full communication system that the Lord has in place for us while we operate in our daily life. We have the Word of God and that gives us daily direction, but the Word is not going to tell me details that will often be important to final decisions. For example, I had to drive several hours to be at a meeting which was taking place in a very large facility. To get from my home to the building I simply put the address into the GPS system in my car. This directed me effortless to the building I was looking for. The Bible is like the GPS system in the car, it will direct me in the way that I should go. It is like the map that gives us direction for this life. GPS will let me know the speed limits and warn me when I am exceeding them. Some GPS systems will even warn you of traffic problems and help you avoid successfully arrive at your destination. If I ever make wrong turns when traveling the GPS system recalculates for me and leads me back to the right pathway. These are all the things the Bible does for us in this life. If I keep myself in the Bible it will get me where I am supposed to be.
My GPS got me to the huge building where I was supposed to be. Once I arrived, however, I found that I needed more information. Where in this huge building was I supposed to be? The GPS did not offer those details.
Once I was at this facility there were parking attendants on site and they were placed there to help individuals find out where they were supposed to go from there. They got me parked at the correct place and informed me where to go once inside the building. This is what the Holy Spirit does for us. He will speak to us, giving us the details of our situations and guide us in the specific things that the Bible does not address. The GPS gave me direction and guidance to get to the building, but then things got very specific. That is where the voice of the attendants guided me. The Bible gives me the direction and corrects my wrong turns and leads me back to the right road for life, but in the small details of life that the Bible does not address, the Holy Spirit is there to guide and direct. When we feel lost He comforts us as He leads us to our destination in Him.
The Bible is the map and the Holy Spirit is the personal voice of the Lord for the details of life, the two are indispensable and we need both active in our lives.
J Todd Hostetler