May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine on us — so that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You. The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him. Psalm 67
“When God makes Himself the guide of a soul He exacts from it an absolute confidence in Him, and a freedom from any sort of disquietude as to the way in which He conducts it. This soul, therefore, is urged on without perceiving the path traced out before it. It does not imitate either what it has seen, or what it has read, but proceeds by its own action, and cannot do otherwise without grave risk. The divine action is ever fresh, it never retraces its steps, but always marks out new ways. Souls that are conducted by it never know where they are going; their ways are neither to be found in books, nor in their own minds; the divine action carries them step by step, and they progress only according to its movement.
When you are conducted by a guide who takes you through an unknown country at night across fields where there are no tracks, by his own skill, without asking advice from anyone, or giving you any inkling of his plans; how can you choose but abandon yourself? Of what use is it looking about to find out where you are, to ask the passers-by, or to consult maps and travellers? The plans or fancies of a guide who insists on being trusted would not allow of this. He would take pleasure in overcoming the anxiety and distrust of the soul, and would insist on an entire surrender to his guidance. If one is convinced that he is a good guide one must have faith in him, and abandon oneself to his care.”
Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751) in Abandonment to Divine Providence 2.7 (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 72.
When I travel, I read classic devotionals like this one to nourish my soul. The authors are sojourners. Their voices are familiar. Their words touch me deeply. And, it’s a privilege to share excerpts of what I learn in my daily posts.
The Guide of the nations wants to be the guide of your soul and mine. What a profound truth! He asks us to give Him our absolute confidence, to trust His guidance, and abandon ourselves to His leading and care. Do you?
Today I meet up with Nydia Garcia Schmidt. She’s the Americas Director for Wycliffe Global Alliance and GTP Regional Facilitator for Latin America. She’s also a trusted friend. I don’t work in Latin America without asking her advice and following her lead.
Pray for us. We will teach on Christian generosity and accountability with pastors, ministry workers, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals interested in forming a peer accountability group like ECFA in Brazil. These meetings could shape the future of ministry in Brazil.
Also consider your own situation. Do you trust God and abandon yourself to His care? Until you venture in uncharted territory with nothing but God as your Guide do you really know He’s all you need and have ever needed all along.
We serve a generous God who is an unfailing Guide. He’s the Guide of the nations, but is He your guide? He demands our absolute confidence. We must not just call Him in crisis. He invites us to rely on Him today and every day to live a generous life.