Deuteronomy 18:9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
We all know what it feels like to be lost, and no one likes to be lost. Sometimes we are lost because we don’t follow directions, and sometimes we are lost because we do follow directions. Perhaps you know the feeling of being out in the middle of nowhere expecting a hotel or a restaurant because your GPS has sent you there, but there is nothing to be found. I remember once in Kansas driving down a gravel road between some cornfields looking for a motel that was nowhere to be found. The reason wasn’t because I didn’t follow directions. The reason was because I followed the directions of a poor guide.
God wants us to have guidance for life. In Deuteronomy 18, God gave guidance for people who were going to experience a land to which they had never been and for things that they had never experienced. Verse 9 says, “When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.”
He continues by talking about two kinds of false guides, prophets of a false god and prophets who speak falsely of the true God. For instance, verse 10 basically says, “Don’t look for or seek guidance from those that consult with familiar spirits, wizards, or witches.” He is talking about prophets, if that is what you wish to call them, of false gods or prophets who are giving guidance from false sources.
Instead, God’s people were to be perfect with the Lord their God. They weren’t to look to people who were consulting with or observing sources that were not authoritative. On the other hand, there were prophets who were of the true God but they were speaking falsely of Him. Verse 20 says, “But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.” This is severe because God does not want His people being misled.
Instead, verse 15 says, “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” Later He says, “I will put my words in his mouth.” Ultimately this is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today, when you are looking for guidance, take the time to seek the Word of God. Take the time to pray to the Lord God. Take time to be led by the Spirit of God. Jesus, in John 15, says, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” This Comforter, the one who comes alongside us, is God Himself in the form of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. He will help us to discern right from wrong, good from bad, better from best.
Remember that your guidance will only be as good as your guide. If your guidance is primarily coming from a screen or from a book written by people who disregard God, then you are going to get lost even more quickly than you would be if you have no guide at all. Today, there is a truth. There is the truth. There is God, and there is the guidance He will provide for anyone who seeks Him.