God’s Guidance: 4 Ways to Find His Direction
Standing on the shoreline beneath Alaska’s midnight sun, the hollow clap of clear water against stone echoes beneath my feet. I’ve come to Alaska to seek God’s guidance for my life. I have no way of knowing that God is waiting to offer direction that has little to do with the questions I’ve been asking.
I’m 21 years old, and I’m seeking answers about my career, myself, and my faith. I don’t know it yet, but God is waiting to graciously provide answers to all three.
How to Find God’s Guidance
I’ve been praying about whether to leave my home in Pennsylvania to pursue a teaching career in Alaska. Meanwhile, I’m working in a deli in the back of a gas station and spending the weekends exploring the state.
Today, I’m waiting for an answer from God, and I’m weighing it all out.
I love the endless mountains, the sense of adventure, and the constant daylight of the Alaskan summer.
I also miss my family, friends, and the sense of community I find at home.
Opening my Bible for the first time since arriving in this distant land, I read these words:
“. . . the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6).
I’ve been having trouble discerning God’s voice throughout my summer excursions. Sadly, most of the time, I’ve been looking in all the wrong places.
Today is different. Through the words of Galatians 5:6, I sense God giving me the freedom to move to Alaska or stay in Pennsylvania. What matters most is that I live a life of faith expressing itself through love.
God’s Guidance When He Seems Silent
I gaze up at the mountains surrounding the quiet lake, and I know the answer. I don’t want to abandon all that I know and everyone I love. Moving to a place where the sun won’t shine in the winter months is not appealing either.
I will return home and search for a teaching job in Pennsylvania.
I close the Bible and stare at the mountains. I’ve made my decision.
How God Speaks to Us
Reflecting on the moment more than 20 years later, I realize that I’ve grown greatly in my relationship with the Lord over the past two decades.
I used to labor long and hard in search of “clarity” from God. I expected God to always speak to me through a still small voice or gentle whisper and often felt frustrated when I didn’t have a clear sense of his voice.
Meanwhile, God was speaking to me all along. He was speaking in unexpected ways, and I often missed his voice because my expectations were too narrow.
Maybe you’ve been trying to hear from God about a decision you need to make. If so, let’s explore a few ways God speaks to us:
1. God’s guidance often comes from other people.
God often uses other people to speak to us—especially those who are older and wiser.
Do you need God’s guidance?
Find someone who has been walking with God for a long time and seek advice. God often speaks to us through others.
I’ve also learned to pay attention to the words spoken by the people who know me best. My family members and close friends know me well and can often offer wisdom as I aim to make decisions.
God can also speak through single statements woven into conversations. Throughout the past months, he has healed me, directed me, and called me closer to himself through simple statements made by friends.
Has a life-giving moment from a conversation ever jumped out at you as if it were spoken directly to your heart?
When this happens, it’s often God’s way of speaking to us.
2. God speaks through Spirit-inspired longings and desires.
As I sat beside the lake in Alaska, I realized I was putting too much pressure on myself to hear God’s voice flawlessly. I was confused because God wasn’t speaking through a gentle whisper.
Instead, God spoke through Spirit-inspired longings in my heart.
He showed me that I wanted to live near my family and friends. He showed me that the climate of Alaskan winters would be difficult for me.
We need to be careful about relying on our desires and longings to discern God’s direction. Our emotions can lead us astray. However, we should not entirely ignore our longings. At times, God speaks through the longings of our hearts. (Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4, NIV).
3. We hear God’s voice in the Bible and through prayer.
God wants to direct us through a loving relationship.
Following God is never a formula. This is why he speaks in different ways at different times.
By reading the Bible daily, we grow in our relationship with God. This relationship can direct our lives. We learn about his character through his written Word.
He gently directs us when his Word speaks to our hearts and shapes us to look more like him. God will never guide us in directions that oppose the teachings of the Bible. For this reason, it is important to know what the Bible says.
God also wants us to seek him in prayer. During these times, we tell God how we’re feeling and talk to him; we also listen for his gentle voice. God often speaks to us during times of prayer by a deep sense of “knowing” what we need to do.
4. God’s guidance often comes through circumstances.
God has a plan and purpose for each of his children.
We often get caught up in hearing him just right and executing the details of our lives perfectly. We forget that he is a good Father who will gently redirect our missteps. He often does this by opening doors of opportunity and aligning circumstances.
We often get caught up in hearing him just right and executing the details of our lives perfectly. We forget that he is a good Father who will gently redirect our missteps. #GodsVoice #followingJesus Share on XMost often, God guides my life through circumstances.
He opens the right doors and closes the wrong ones.
We can trust that when we earnestly want to follow him, God will lead us. He often leads us by orchestrating our circumstances so that we cannot miss his plans for us.
God Wants to Guide His Children
God wants to guide and direct you, too.
Best of all, you don’t have to worry about making the perfect decision or never making a mistake.
I have learned that when I step off of God’s best path for my life, he always gently redirects me back onto the right path.
Make the best, wisest, most love-grounded decisions you can. Trust that God will lead you and help you.
Someday I hope to return to Alaska. I think I’ll sit along that mountain lake and thank God that he never asked me to make perfect decisions; his heart’s desire was that I would pursue him with my whole heart. As I sought him, the details of my life quickly began to fall into place.
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