How do you know it is God leading and not just your inherent desire? The only way we can be certain is if God has been explicit and we tend to know that when we can point to it in the word and other people – without the same burning desire – can look and affirm what he seems to have said too.

I was chatting to a friend the other day who was telling me about some folks defending their particular chosen course of action with a reference to God’s leading. He recounted to me experiences where this kind of thinking was prevalent in his church and people were shocked when he suggested that such feelings were not altogether reliable. Rather than centre ourselves on such things, we determine God’s will by searching his Word. I wish I was more shocked to hear about it than I was.

Here’s the thing, we need a moratorium on phrases like ‘I sense God’s leading’ or ‘the Lord is leading me to…’ or ‘I have a sense of peace that the Lord is leading me in this’. I accept that the context in which these things are deployed is often harmless when it is clear that the person is not saying that the Word is irrelevant. But more often than not, these phrases are employed in an attempt to put a spiritual veneer – indeed a effort citing God’s authority – on a thing that they just want to do.

I am reminded of the man – who despite all attempts and pleadings to the contrary – insisted he had a real sense of peace and God’s leading about leaving his wife for another woman. It didn’t matter what God’s Word said, it simply mattered that he felt peace and assured of God’s leading. It didn’t matter that it was pointed out that God doesn’t contradict himself and he has been clear in his word, his personal sense of God’s leading would not permit him to do other.

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