p. 9 | The Guiding Hand by W. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 4, 1915

The Guiding Hand

By W. A. S.

We are to recognize the hand of God in all the work and service of life. He promises to give wisdom and judgment to those who seek him to know the way of duty and of service. That is one way in which the guiding hand is revealed, and the way, we may say, in which the Lord displays his power most of all. He is “wonderful in counsel,” and his Spirit is ever ready to be the daily teacher and guide.

Many times, however, the gospel worker or believer is conscious of a special manifestation of God’s guiding hand intervening in a way out of the ordinary. These extraordinary experiences help us to recognize the presence of the Lord in the ordinary way of service. The experiences of special intervention of the guiding hand seem to the believer so intimately personal and sacred that he sometimes hesitates to speak of them; yet it is to the glory of God to tell of his wondrous workings.

On a visit to western Oregon, Elder B. C. Tabor told us of an experience of the beginning of our work in a city where now we have a church of earnest believers:—

While engaged in Bible work, the brethren of the conference committee asked me to go to C—— to labor. As I thought of responding to the call, the matter did not seem clear. There seemed to come to me instead more and more definitely the conviction that I should go to A——. It was not a matter of my own choice; but somehow aside from any reason that I could give, the conviction became most clear that A—— was the place to which I should go.

I went to Portland and told the brethren this experience, and they said, “Go to A——.” On my way the impression came vividly to my mind—how imparted I could not tell—of a certain street, on which after following it several blocks, I should find the house in which to begin the work. Reaching A——, I found the street, and following it, there was the house answering to the distinct impression given me. I called, and explained my mission as a Bible evangelist to the man of the house. “The Lord must have sent you,” he said, “for that is just what I have wanted.” He opened his house for Bible study and cottage meetings, and as a result a church was raised up.

In working from house to house in the town, I had noticed a house that stood apart in a field, at some distance from the street along which I often passed at a late afternoon hour on the way to my stopping place. I felt I should go to that house; but my hands were more than full of work, and in the weariness and pressure I put it off. But the conviction still came as I passed that way returning from the day’s work. When I had delayed for three weeks, I felt I must go, and I went across the field and knocked at the door. A woman opened the door, and I saw that she had been weeping. I showed her the tracts that I had been circulating, and spoke of the study of the Bible. “Friend,” she said, looking intently at me, “the Lord sent you here. For three weeks I have been praying at this hour for light. God sent you to me.” She accepted the light of truth with a glad heart.

For three weeks the woman prayed at that hour, and nearly every day at about the same hour something seemed to whisper to the worker to turn aside and go to that door. Long ago a poor sinner was praying in Damascus for light. And the word came to a servant of God there: “Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.”

Heaven knows the homes and hearts that are praying for light. And the Lord would guide the feet of his servants to these waiting souls.

W. A. S.