You would be amazed how many people ask me a
very simple question. And this is the question.
Kathleen Kuhlman, what is your favorite verse?
What is your favorite portion of God's Word?
Well, that's the most difficult question to answer.
But there is a verse of Scripture that's found
in the 78th Psalm. It's the 72nd verse, and it
means an awful lot to me. He guided them by the
skillfulness of his hands. There's something
about that that thrills me. There's something
about that that gives me courage. There's something
about that. that I cannot explain, I have not
the ability to explain to you what it means to
me to know that he guides me, he leads me. I'm
completely dependent on him. Oh, do you understand
what I mean when I say that without him, I'm
sunk. I have to live a life of faith. And it's
just like that. I don't dare do anything wrong.
My decisions have got to be right. Because there's
so many who are depending on me. I must... Depend
on him for his guidance. I must stay in the perfect
will of God. If for just one day I would live
my life outside of the will of God, for one day
I would not have his wisdom, be given his guidance.
Think how many lives might be wrecked. what damage
would be done to the cause of Christ. I must
depend on his guidance. And I seek it constantly.
It's the constant prayer of my life. He guided
them by the skillfulness of his hands. If you
go to him to be guided, he will guide you. That's
one thing I can promise you. If you are willing
to be guided by his guiltful hands, he will guide
you. But he'll not comfort your distrust. He'll
not comfort your half -trust of him by showing
you the chart of all his purposes concerning
you. He'll show you only into a way where, if
you go cheerfully and trustfully forward, he'll
show you on still farther. But he'll not show
you six months in advance. He'll not show you
five months in advance. He may not even show
you a month in advance. He may not even show
you a day in advance. I do not believe that the
Red Sea was opened up to the children of Israel
a mile in advance of their approach. I do not
believe that the waters parted. six feet ahead
of them. It was as in active faith they set foot
on the waters at the water's partage. There had
to be a willingness to be led, to be guided by
the Lord. And if you go to Him to be guided,
He'll guide you. He'll lead you if you want his
perfect will. And you seek his perfect will.
And you come to the place where you have no will
of your own. And that's a hard place to get to,
I promise you. It's not easy to get to the place
where you have no will of your own. And you say,
nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
But if you can get to that place and get yourself
in that position, then you will not miss, you
cannot miss the perfect will of God. And in yielding
your will to him, you are saying by that act
of yieldedness, I want you to guide me. That's
perfect trust. That's perfect confidence. And
he will guide you by the skillfulness of his
hands. And you can't miss. Oh, to me, that's
very wonderful. That's thrilling. When you're
doubtful as to your course, Submit your judgment
absolutely to the Spirit of God and ask Him to
shut against you every door but the right one.
When you're seeking His perfect will, He'll lead
you step by step and He will close the doors
that are not His will. As you go down the long
corridor, you'll find that he has preceded you
and locked many doors which you would fain have
entered. But be sure that beyond these there
is one door which he has left unlocked. Open
it and enter. And you'll find yourself face to
face with the bend of the river of opportunity
broader and deeper than anything you had dared
to imagine in your own sunniest dreams. Launch
forth upon it. It's his will. He has guided you
through that open door by the... skillfulness
of his hands. Sometimes God guides us by circumstances.
At one moment, the way may seem utterly blocked,
and then shortly afterward, some trivial incident
occurs. It would mean anything to anyone else.
It may seem such a small, trivial thing. But
To the eye of faith it speaks volumes. Sometimes
these things are repeated in various ways in
answer to prayer. Nothing is promiscuous with
the Lord. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And then
you continue to walk in the light. And you continue
to walk in the perfect will of God. and you continue
to be led and seek the guidance of the skillfulness
of his hands. They begin to multiply as we advance
toward our goal, just as the lights do as we
near a town when driving through the land by
night. We can travel for hours and hours. There's
no light in the distance. None whatsoever. Then
suddenly we see the lights in the distance of
the town. And so it is sometimes he leads us
through deep waters, the darkness of the night,
and we feel that daylight will never come. But
it will. It will. If you walk on trusting him,
you cannot miss because he cannot fail. Oh, to
be in God's perfect will. You know, Jesus said
that to him, the will of God was meat. It was
something that said him, sustained him. Something
that he lived by. Few people understand what
Jesus meant. Even if I'm talking now about the
will of God being meat to us. Sustaining us.
There may be very few who know what I'm talking
about. But it's the most glorious way to live
that I know anything about. Now, to some, the
will of God is medicine. It's something to be
taken now and again to straighten us out. Oh,
you know, once in a while, you seek the will
of God. It's not a continual thing. It's not
a life or a way of life. It's something that's
medicine to you. It's something that you take
just now and again to straighten you out. It's
bitter, but it's needed to get rid of your ills.
Now, this view of the will of God is very common.
It's something to be accepted with a sigh. to
some folk when you talk about the will of God.
It's such a distasteful thing. It's such a dreadful
thing because there's consecration that has to
be made. And to them, the will of God is something
to be born. When death and calamity visit them,
they say, thy will be done. It's medicine and
it's bitter medicine. To some, the will of God
is more like sweets at the end of a meal, something
to round off life and give it taste. But you
don't live by sweets, nor do such people live
by the will of God. The will of God to them is
something that's occasional. It gives life its
flavor, but not. the food. But to Jesus, the
will of God was neither medicine nor sweets.
It was meat, the thing that sustained him. This
implies that we are made for the will of God.
Just as the body is made for food. So you and
I are made for the will of God. And that's one
reason why so many of us get into trouble. Why
we make such a mess of our lives. It's because
we are living outside of the will of God. We
only seek His will occasionally. We only... think
of his will occasionally. You and I were made
for the will of God, just as the body is made
for food. And just as surely as we are careful
of the food and eat the right kind of food, we
have a good, well -strong body so beloved. When
you and I are willing to be led by the skillfulness
of His hand and we live in the perfect will of
God, then all things will work out for our good
and His glory. It's just that simple. It fits
our moral and our spiritual makeup. and everything
else is poison. But this is food. His will is
food. I live as I live by the will of God. I
wither and die as I live by some other will,
especially my own. Oh, when I take my own life
in my own hands, and try to live my life even
for one day according to my will. I get into
so much trouble, everything goes wrong. Nothing
comes out right. It just doesn't add up. I'm
finding that two and two make five. Five and
five make eleven. My arithmetic doesn't come
out right. Nothing is right. That's the reason,
oh, I can tell you how I seek to be guided by
the skillfulness of his hands. You know, I said
that we were made for the will of God. as the
body is made for food, that the will of God feeds
us, while everything else outside that will poison
us. In South America, there are leaves of a tree
which, if eaten, take away all appetite. One
no longer cares for food, but it's a drug. and
not of food. Anything that apparently satisfies
you outside the will of God is a drug. It's not
food. But the will of God is food, real food.
When a man is feeding on that, he's adequate
for anything. He's afraid of nothing. That is
the glory of it. When you know that you are living
in the perfect will of God and that you're being
guided by the skillfulness of His hands, it takes
the fear out of living. It takes the fear out
of life. It takes the fear... out of trouble.
It takes the fear out of tomorrow. There's such
security. And really, the only person in the
whole world in this hour who has real security
is the man and the woman who's secure in Christ
Jesus. There is no other real security. No person
will take issue with that statement. The only
real security is found in spiritual things. And
the only person who is really secure and who
knows no fear is the person who is living in
the perfect will of God and being led and guided
and protected. by the skillfulness of his hands.
That's right. And when a man is feeding on that,
he's adequate for anything. He's afraid of nothing.
He feels that at the center of his being, he
has resources, sustenance, reinforcement. Life
not his own, but he lives by that very life.
Victorious living is the natural. It's the normal
outcome of that fact. There's nothing that sustains
a man like the fact that he knows. that the universe
backs his will when he backs. Is it any wonder
that we share that same sense of exalted joy
that Jesus had on this occasion when he said
that to him the will of God was meet? It sustained
him. He lived by it. Are you frustrated? Are
you afraid? Are you insecure? Is there distrust?
Oh, the insecurity. The frustrations. That's
the reason that you're taking pills. All kinds
of pills. You're pill to death. This generation
is pill to death. Pills to sleep. Pills to stay
awake. Pills for nerves. Do you want me to subscribe
the best thing that I know for that which ails
you? Seek the perfect will of God. Seek to be
guided by the skillfulness of His hands. And
you'll know no defeat. It's a life that is secure.
In him.