Who's Your Father?: Returning to the Love of the Biblical God

by Robert Bernecker

God does not demand that we must somehow find the path that he declares we do not know. Instead, God says that we are the blind who are not capable of finding a path or a way that we do not know, but he, our loving Father, will lead us along the unknown way, turning our darkness into light and our rough places into level ground. Furthermore, his leading is not in doubt; he says plainly that this is what he will do and that he will not forsake us. In Isaiah 49:10 (NIV), we are given this wonderful affirmation: “He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them.” One more time, our loving Father promises to lead us; he does not threaten to give us his second best if we fail to find the correct path because we did not seek to discover his will quite earnestly enough—that would hardly be the mercy and compassion that is promised in this passage. In the face of these comforting passages, it would be preposterous to suggest that God may not fulfill his purpose for us if we do not spend quite enough time begging him to reveal his will to us. This same message is found in the much-loved twenty-third Psalm. The Lord is our shepherd, and we are his sheep. Sheep do not worry and fret about finding the shepherd’s will! Instead, they follow where their good shepherd leads them, trusting him to lead them to the pasture that is best for them. Rather than despair over “finding God’s will,” we should trust that our loving Father is leading us and understand that where he leads us...