I must get used to the idea that God is not always in front of me, leading the way. He has promised to always guide me, but sometimes He guides me from behind. “Your ears will hear a word behind you, ‘This is the way, walk in it’” (Isaiah 30:21). Strange guidance, indeed, from behind!
In Argentina I watched a shepherd girl lead her flock of sheep. How did she do it? Sometimes in front, sometimes on the side, and sometimes from behind. The psalmist says, “He leadeth me” (Psalm 23:2, KJV, italics added); that is guidance from the front. But verse 3 says, He driveth me in the paths” (author’s trans.). That is guidance from behind.
Guidance from behind means one of two things: either there is trouble ahead and I need to be forced through it; or my resolve is getting weak and God has to use a little muscle persuasion to get me moving along the road.
God has led me more with “behind guidance” than with “before guidance.” When God is in front He is easily seen and I slack my trust a little. But when He is behind I have got to rely on His commands without seeing Him; therefore, I am more vulnerable to failure and mistake unless my faith is strong. My very vulnerability is the school in which God teaches my faith to be strong.
If I am trusting God. He will never let me make a wrong move. But all the same. He will allow me to suffer the anxiety of a possible wrong move, just to keep my faith in fighting trim. That anxiety is painful, but not half as painful as reaping the results of a real wrong move. God carefully monitors my anxiety level and will not allow it to overflow. “I will tell the next generation that this God is my God. He will be my guide, even unto death” (Psalm 48:13–14, author’s trans.).
“And I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, in paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them and rugged places into plains” (Isaiah 42:16).
Daily with the King 