If a child habitually neglected its father and did not take the trouble of knowing his mind and will,
it is easy to foresee that when a difficulty presented itself this child would not be in circumstances
to understand what would please its parent. There are certain things which God leaves in
generalities in order that the state of the individual’s soul may be proved. People would like a
convenient and comfortable means of knowing God’s will; but there exists no means of
ascertaining it without reference to the state of our own soul.

We sometimes seek God’s will, desiring to know how to act in circumstances in which His only
will is that we should not be found in them at all. If conscience were really in activity, its first
effect would be to make us leave those circumstances. It is our own will which has set us there,
and we should like nevertheless to enjoy the comfort of being guided of God in a path which we
ourselves have chosen. Such is a very common case.

Be assured that if we are near enough to God, we shall not be at a loss to know His will. In a long
and active life it may happen that God, in His love, may not always at once reveal His will to us.
He does this that we may feel our dependence, particularly when we have a tendency to act
according to our own will. However, "if . . . thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of
light" (Matt. 6:22); from this it is certain that if the whole body is not full of light, the eye is not
single. You will say, That is poor consolation. I answer it is rich consolation for those whose sole
desire is to have the eye single and to walk with God.

"If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a
man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him" (John 11:9,10). It is always
the same principle. "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life" (John 8:12). You cannot exempt yourself from this moral law of Christianity. "For this cause
we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be
filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the
knowledge of God" (Col. 1:9,10). The mutual connection of these things is of immense importance
for the soul. The Lord must be known intimately if one would walk in a way worthy of Him; and
it is thus that we grow in the knowledge of God’s will. "And this I pray, that your love may
abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are
excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ" (Phil. 1:9,10). Finally,
it is written that the spiritual man "judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man" (1 Cor.
2:15).

It is then the purpose of God, and a precious purpose, that we should be able to discern His will
only according to our own spiritual state. Our business is to keep close to Him. God would not
be good to us if He permitted us to discover His will without that. It might be convenient just to
have a director of consciences; we should thus be spared the discovery and the chastisement of
our moral condition. Thus, if you seek how you may discover the will of God without that, you
are seeking evil; and this is what we see every day. One Christian is in doubt, in perplexity;
another, more spiritual, sees as clear as the day, sees no difficulty, and ends by understanding that

it lies only in the other’s state of soul. "He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar
off" (2 Peter 1:9).

As regards circumstances, I believe that it is possible_ though not preferable_for a person to be
guided by them. This is what is meant by being "held in with bit and bridle" (Psalm 32:9).
However, the promise and privilege of him who has faith is, "I will instruct thee and teach thee
in the way which thou shalt go:I will guide thee with Mine eye" (verse 8). God who is faithful
has given the promise of directing us thus_near enough to God to understand by a single glance
from Him. He warns us not to be as the horse and the mule which have no understanding of the
will, thoughts, or desires of their master. It is needful to hold them in with bit and bridle.
Doubtless even that is better than to stumble, fall, and run counter to Him who holds us in; but
it is a sad state, and such it is to be guided by circumstances. Undoubtedly it is merciful on God’s
part so to act, but very sad on ours.

There must now be drawn a distinction between judging what one has to do in certain
circumstances, and being guided by them. He who allows himself to be guided by them always
acts in the dark as to knowing the will of God. There is absolutely nothing moral in it; it is an
external force that constrains. Now it is very possible that I may have no judgment beforehand of
what I shall do:I know not what circumstances may arise, and consequently I can make no
resolutions. But the instant the circumstances are there, I judge with a full and divine conviction
what is the path of God’s will and of the Spirit’s intention and power. That demands the highest
degree of spirituality. It is not to be directed by circumstances, but to be directed by God in them,
being near enough to God to be able to judge immediately what one ought to do as soon as the
circumstances are there.

As to impressions, God can suggest them, and it is certain that in fact He does suggest a thing to
the mind; but in that case the propriety of the thing and its moral character will be as clear as the
sun at noonday. In prayer God can remove from the heart certain carnal influences, which, being
destroyed, leave room for certain other spiritual influences taking all their place in the soul. Thus
He makes us feel the importance of some duty which perhaps had been entirely obscured by
preoccupation caused by some desired object. I do not doubt that God often makes impressions
on our minds when we walk with Him and listen to His voice.

Another important point which must be made is that a person should never act without knowing
the will of God. The will of God ought to be the motive as well as the rule of our conduct; and
until His will is in activity, there is an absence of any true motive for ours. If you act in ignorance
in this respect, you are at the mercy of circumstances. It is true that God may turn all to the good
of His children; but why act when we are ignorant what His will is? Is the necessity of acting
always so extremely pressing?

On the other hand, if I do something with the full certainty that I am doing the will of God, it is
clear that an obstacle is no more than a test of my faith, and it ought not to stop me. It stops us
perhaps through our lack of faith; because, if we do not walk sufficiently near to God in the sense
of our nothingness, we shall lack faith to accomplish what we have faith enough to discern. When
we are doing our own will or are negligent in our walk, God in His mercy may warn us by a

hindrance which arrests us if we pay attention to it. God may permit, where there is much activity
and labor, that Satan should raise up hindrances, in order that we may be kept in dependence on
the Lord.

Now let us examine whether Scripture does not present some principle suitable to direct us. Here
evidently spirituality is the essential thing_is everything. The rule that we should do what Jesus
would have done in such and such a circumstance is excellent, where and when it can be applied.
But are we often in the circumstances where the Lord was found?

Next, it is often useful to ask myself whence comes such a desire of mine, or such a thought of
doing this or that. I have found that this alone decides more than half of the difficulties that
Christians meet with. If a thought comes from God and not from the flesh, then we have only to
address ourselves to God as to the manner and means of executing it, and we shall soon be
directed.

I have communicated to you on this subject all that my mind can furnish you with at this moment.
For the rest, remember only that the wisdom of God conducts us in the way of God’s will:if our
own will is in activity, God cannot bend to that. That is the essential thing to discover. It is the
secret of the life of Christ.

(From Collected Writings, Vol. 16.)