Within the span of a week, I heard three people say three different things that got me thinking about God’s involvement in my life.
Person one said that he didn’t know if God actually cares about what we do, and that He may not be particularly interested in the choices we make beyond accepting salvation, especially the less important ones.
Person two said that he believed that God only intervenes in our lives after we have done all we can to find His will—that He expects us to exhaust all available means before He will intervene.
Person three expressed the point of view that when God made the world, He was like a clockmaker who assembled and wound up the clock and then left it to run on its own. God designed the laws of nature that would govern and perpetuate His creation, but from that point on, He has let things run themselves without His intervention.
Each of these outlooks disturbed me, and in the days that followed, I reflected on them. Something inside me rebelled against the thought that either God didn’t care enough to be involved in my life, or I had to work as hard as I possibly could before He would give me His attention.
If any of those three concepts were true, what could I count on God for, besides forgiveness for my mistakes and sins? What good was He? In times of tumult, I need help and direction, not to be worried about whether He cares enough to help or whether things have gotten bad enough for Him to get involved.
When I mulled over those three points of view, I was reminded of three proofs that stood in direct contradiction to them.
1. Personal experience
God has intervened in my life on several occasions in ways that made it clear He was interested in the decisions I made.
Once, years ago, I had a dream that gave me an answer before I even knew the question. A few days after the dream, I was offered two jobs. The dream had made it very clear which offer to take, and doing so put me on the path that led me to the work I have been doing for the past 15 years. I hadn’t done anything to find that answer, let alone exhausted all the means at my disposal.
On numerous occasions when I have sought the Lord’s guidance in prayer and have received direction from Him. I’ve asked Him to give me answers and He has—in meditation, by speaking to my heart, through my reading His Word, by relaying His wisdom through others, and through circumstances. He’s given me clear counsel and direction that, when followed, has worked. I know from personal experience that God cares, is interested in me, and will participate in my life when I am open to Him.
2. God’s Word
In both the Old Testament and the New, there are many examples of God’s interaction with man—His intervention in events, and His giving guidance or warning.
There are also plenty of examples of God’s involvement in the decision-making process of His followers, but there is an especially good one in the book of Acts:
“Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
God clearly had preferences as to where they should and shouldn’t go, and He made those known to them.
The Bible explicitly states that we should look to God for guidance as part of our decision-making process, and that if we do, He will give us direction: “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”
In the book of Psalms, David clearly showed that he believed in God’s guidance when he prayed, “Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You.”
Jesus said that when we have needs, we should look to God and expect Him to meet those needs. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Jesus believed His Father would guide Him in making decisions, as evidenced when He selected the apostles from among His disciples: “He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles.”
It’s evident from Scripture that God wants to and will interact with us if we want Him to.
3. The Holy Spirit
Along with personal experience and examples found within the Word, I thought about how Jesus promised that once He physically left our world, the Father would send the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers. He said that the Holy Spirit would live in us.
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. On that day you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.”
If God was going to send His Spirit to dwell within me forever, then it stands to reason that He is interested not only in me as an individual, but also in what I do and the decisions I make. I would even make the case that He’s not merely interested, but involved.
In various English translations the Greek word parakletos, which is used to describe the Holy Spirit, is rendered “Counselor,” “Helper,” “Intercessor,” “Comforter” or “Advocate.” I like those images—God’s Spirit being all those things to me. I love it that God is active in my life, that He is interested in me, in who I am and what I do.
I see plenty of evidence that God wants to be part of my life, to play an interactive role. He and I are working together. His Spirit—dwelling within me, guiding my decision making—helps me in my journey through life. I’m so grateful that He didn’t just wind me up and walk away, but instead gave me the means to interact with Him through His Word and His Spirit.
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Psalms 121:3 NASV – He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.
Psalms 23:1 NASV – The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Matthew 10:30-31 NASV – But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. “So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.
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