I like to do things my way but during my life I’ve learned to accept help. I still don’t like it when people’s help becomes dominance and they try to take control over my life. Maybe none of us do. Sometimes we have a friend who says, ‘If I were you I’d do so and so.’ Don’t we want to reply ‘But you’re not me.’ These people mean well but it is firstly God and then us who know how to run our lives. Our God is not like that, He is not an intrusive force. He leads us gently, ‘I have taken you by the right hand I will lead you.’ Isaiah 42:6.
God’s leading is gentle and kind. In our lives we often go down the wrong paths and get into difficulties. God doesn’t come to us with a big stick and say ‘I told you not to go that way.’ He knows only too well our frailty. His rebuke is soft and persuasive. He is our gentle Shepherd not avenging dictator.
The 23rd psalm puts it so well, ‘He leads me beside the still waters,’ verse 2. He offers a time of rest and recuperation. ‘He makes me lie down in green meadows,’ again verse 2. No wonder we welcome Him into our lives.