Isaiah 30:21, commentary and pictures

Isaiah 30:21 promises that when a choice must be made, God Himself directs which way to walk when turning to the right hand or to the left. The way to walk in is the open, plain, straight, narrow path to heaven that Christ has marked out, a path of duty, self-denial and the cross that alone gives peace and safety. That directing word is a real divine communication, as direct as an audible voice, a still small voice speaking from behind through Scripture, by the Holy Spirit telling God's will, and by Christ speaking to the heart. It is heard by those who turn from self-reliance, surrender without reservation, wait for God in humility and prayerful obedience, and put into practice the light they already have step by step. Receiving it with a willing heart brings blessing, peace, assurance and fruitfulness, while listening to other voices or resisting reproof leaves a person confused, in darkness and led astray.

Voice, Way and Context

The promise is direction from God at the moment of choice, telling which way to walk when turning to the right hand or to the left. It is given to those who look to Him, correcting the course when they turn aside, and it is more reliable than human wisdom. For servants facing decisions about where to go and what work to do, the voice gives counsel and presence, calling to follow the right way in either direction. That guidance is received by patient and prayerful seeking rather than haste, impulse, or solitary judgment, and following Christ the great Leader in this way keeps from walking in darkness or mistaking personal ideas for heavenly light. It comforts in perilous conflict and keeps responsible leaders safe as they do their appointed work.

The directing word is genuine divine communication, as direct as hearing an audible voice. It is a still, small voice speaking from behind, telling the way to walk in it. The way it points out is the open, plain, straight, simple, narrow path to heaven marked out by Christ in distinct lines for those willing to follow in His footsteps. That road alone leads to the city of God, going straight forward with no variableness nor shadow of turning, while the wide road of the world makes room for self-gratification, temporary pleasures, worldly attractions, and selfishness and bears its travelers to destruction. No one on the broad road can reach heaven, so the voice calls those on it to leave it for the strait gate and narrow way, yet many refuse to hear, dislike turning from selfishness, and delay decision for the future. Keeping minds in that narrow path to eternal life calls for direct, simple appeals to those who want the truth, leaving unsaid many things human wisdom might say and refusing to confuse minds with superficial things, since human theories, maxims, and tests laid on the foundation are hay, wood, and stubble to be consumed by the purifying fires of the last day. Messengers are therefore to walk in the Lord's way and not after human devisings, continuing united thorough labor where interest is awakened instead of cutting the work short.

The path pointed out is the path of duty, containing self-denial and the cross, and it is the only path of peace and safety. To turn from it is to turn the back on God's way and walk in the companionship of self, a companionship to be dreaded because putting self first puts God aside and loses the sense of His presence and love. Turning aside includes choosing a path of one's own, following finite erring counsel, and practicing principles warned against. Guidance is to be obeyed consistently rather than accepted only when it agrees with personal preference. The call is to surrender without choosing one's own way, to wait for divine leading and listen for direction, especially when praying for protection from temptation and seeking safe paths.

In its setting the promise belongs to a purified, tried remnant made white, who even under the bread of adversity and the water of affliction have teachers no longer hidden in a corner but seen with their eyes while their ears hear the word behind them. It comes in returning and rest, in quietness and confidence, because the Lord waits to be gracious and merciful, and as a God of judgment He blesses all who wait for Him. Waiting is at times the hardest yet wholly acceptable service, yielding the peaceable fruits of righteousness. In weighty matters carrying large responsibility for many, this means praying as well as acting, refusing hasty action on one person's judgment, giving full consideration with counsel of brethren, and then advancing in wisdom in God's best way.

Means of Divine Guidance

The guiding word behind the traveler speaks through Scripture, which marks out the path of faith and righteousness that leads to eternal life. It is to be received as God's own voice and studied prayerfully, humbly, with hope and faith, so that its direction grows clearer. Received in that way it corrects errors, instructs in duty, points out the path to be walked, and through faith leads to obedience, and through obedience to sanctification and righteousness. Its voice is to be heard above human opinions, for human opinions can obscure heaven's light and keep people from hearing it.

The same voice speaks by the Holy Spirit telling a person God's will and the way to walk in it, and blame rests on the one who does not obey. The Spirit magnifies truth and makes it honorable, proclaiming the way to walk as truth stated and barricaded by a Thus saith the Lord. That truth is traced upon heart and mind as indelibly as the law was traced by the finger of God upon the tables of stone kept in the ark, to be brought forth in the great day when sentence is pronounced against every evil seducing science produced by the father of lies. The call is to give self to God without reservation and without making terms, to be led and molded by Jesus, to leave chosen work and worldly schemes, to overcome weak points of character plainly opened before the mind, to resist Satan and temptation, to cease following independent judgment, and to do the given work of saving souls, in which lies blessing and going from strength to strength in knowing the Lord.

Christ speaks to the heart to point out the way to walk, and His voice is heard and obeyed when truth is received in love of its sacred principles. Hearing requires staying the heart upon Christ, speaking and acting like a Christian, being cleansed and refined and ennobled by the truth, and remaining unsatisfied until the truth cleanses the life from every unessential thing. It requires the mind molded day by day by the holy influences of the Spirit of God, for when the mind is so shaped and the heart is so stayed, Christ's direction in the right way is heard and obeyed as the truth cleanses the life.

Guidance also comes through the Spirit of prophecy, by which the Lord reveals dangers ahead and tells which way to go, exposing Satan's deceptions and giving instruction to help God's people walk rightly. The instruction already given in the Testimonies serves as that directing voice to youth and to all seeking the Lord, calling them to follow the right course. Prophecy guides by commending the just and leading the unjust to repentance and conversion through rebuking sin and exposing iniquity, and it sheds light on the past, the present, and the future.

God does not leave people in midnight darkness without spiritual guidance but has all heaven actively communicating light to the world. The voice calling out the way to walk is a warning voice inspired by God, given because the human family is the object of the special care of God and heavenly beings. A sleepless Eye guards His people, and ten thousand times ten thousand angels minister to human need, so those who hear and trust God's guidance rather than finite human judgment will be safe.

The guiding word is voiced through watchmen who must give it clearly to keep people in the right path, sounding it loudly like a trumpet to flash light on the pathway for those in danger of confusion. When those who should stand in clear light and shine as bright lights in a dark place fail to give that guidance and instead give false light kindled from common fire forbidden in God's service, they become bodies of darkness and those following them are left confused and turned into false paths. God's servants must therefore stay wide-awake to distinguish true from false and warn with the call to beware of false paths, given by clear-sighted, experienced, trustworthy men who see beneath the surface, especially when religious organizations make movements that appear designed to benefit the world but are not in accordance with God's mind, in which no part is to be taken because sympathy with them and agreement with half-concealed plans entangles people and sets them to work on the enemy's side. Those directing voices call God's people away from distracting side issues and toward Christ's work of saving souls, for Christ Himself directs them to follow Him as the way that leads out of darkness.

The voice works through human agencies by the light of His Word, for had Israel obeyed God's Word and respected His instruction the Lord would have accomplished His purpose through them as His moral agencies, with divine and human agencies walking together in companionship. That guiding voice never leads to contention, strife, or alienation. It speaks through the gospel of Christ received into the heart and lived in the life, continually directing other souls to follow the right path, as the message of Jesus Christ received as personal Saviour and proclaimed by a life that embodies it becomes argument and doctrine and warning to those who do not know God and the truth, encouragement to the sorrowing, and the rich hope of all who believe. It is voiced through worn, experienced servants who should preserve the life God has given them so they can teach with pen and voice from broad experience, educating younger workers by precept and example how to bear the strain of labor without presumptuous overwork that sacrifices life. Those who follow Christ point others to the right way by representing Him in practical life, beholding His image through His Word and showing tenderness and love in good words and works, manifesting His tenderness and love to all they associate with out of close companionship with Christ and developing the grace God has given into good works.

Human opinions and distorted education can obscure God's guiding words and keep people from hearing them, and evil working through education hides heaven's light to the same end. Efforts to hide God's truth keep people from hearing His voice, while the Lord makes His way clear so people can follow it. When counsel conflicts with what is from God, His direction by His counsel is to be followed rather than human judgment, rather than supposedly wise men, and rather than many counterfeit voices demanding that others walk in human footsteps. In Battle Creek that divine guidance was counterfeited by many such human voices saying this is the only right way and demanding walk in my footsteps, coming from Sabbathkeepers who had served self and neglected duty until their spiritual senses were dulled, so that pressure to follow human footsteps instead of God's way made holding counsel among them a great danger.

Seeking and Hearing Guidance

The promise guides those who turn away from self-reliance and look to God, surrendering without reservation or terms, giving up their own will and praying in faith, and He shows them the right course and indicates the way to go, even in practical decisions such as where work should be located. Those who seek safe paths wait for His leading and listen for His direction in the way they should walk, refusing to choose a way of their own when praying for protection from temptation. His guidance does not force obedience, and those who reject His word and warnings are left to follow their own plans until they recognize their folly.

Hearing requires humility, meekness, wholehearted obedience and devotion, dying to self, and refusing to trust in people or rely on human strength. The Lord is a present help in every time of need who directs in the way to walk, and to those who humbly seek to do His will in good but heavy work He has promised to guide with judgment, imparting wisdom, skill and understanding and letting light and courage come into the soul. At such times it is a privilege to expect help from the One who understands, so there is no need to fail, be discouraged or worry, but to go right ahead, knowing that wherever profitable work for His cause and people is done trials and temptations will surely come and the Lord as helper will guide through them.

Guidance is received by waiting for God and by patient, prayerful seeking rather than hasty action on one person's judgment, impulse or own ideas. The Lord Himself directs the ears of those who wait for Him, telling the way to walk when turning to the right hand or to the left, and this comes in returning and rest, in quietness and confidence, because He waits to be gracious and merciful and as a God of judgment blesses all who wait for Him. Waiting is at times the hardest yet wholly acceptable service, yielding the peaceable fruits of righteousness, and in weighty matters carrying large responsibility for many it means praying as well as acting, giving full consideration with counsel of brethren, and then advancing in wisdom in His best way. The directing voice is Christ's, the great Leader, and following Him keeps from walking in darkness or mistaking human ideas for heavenly light, comforting His people in perilous conflicts and helping responsible leaders serve safely when they do their appointed work and follow Him.

Those who heed the light they already have and put it into practice are led forward step by step, as in a continuing school in which the divine Teacher leads to understand life's true aims and take the next step in learning His revealed will. God as the True Shepherd makes His voice heard to guide wanderers and direct them in the right way, continually at the right hand directing the way to walk so the faithful can walk forward without mistaking the path and be kept from turning aside into wrongdoing and darkness. Continually realizing His presence and dependence on His power means making the world and its interests subordinate to pure and undefiled religion, following the precepts and example of Christ as loyal worshipers, and not letting day after day go by without thought of God while following personal devices and plans with no reference to Him, and this daily heed keeps from becoming the sport of temptation.

The voice directs those who feel their own weakness and unworthiness, value Christ's blood, and seek the Lord earnestly with all the heart, leading to finding Jesus in whom everything is found, to fellowship with the Father and the Son, and to growing in knowledge of divine perfection, in reverence, in confidence in communion with God, and in faith, learning to distrust self and depend on Christ for everything. It speaks as a still, small voice to youth in school determined to obtain instruction fitting them for the higher grade, telling the way to go, and ministering angels attend them at every step. To hear it they must so conduct themselves as to be susceptible to the influences of the Holy Spirit, and the student who submits his will to God's will has angels in the appearance of men walking by his side.

Those doing work for the judgment must be learners needing His guidance every moment and at every step ask whether this is the way of the Lord rather than the way of a human leader, with the only concern being to walk in the way of the Lord. This means seeking by prayer and supplication to know His will instead of stumbling along in uncertainty with only finite wisdom, daily inquiring in His school and asking whether a choice is His way and whether Christ is leading. It belongs especially to managers of institutions, whose strength is not in worldly prosperity and larger buildings but in being meek and lowly of heart and learning the right way from God, and to workmen in need of divine guidance every hour who look to Jesus, act intelligently in the part given each one in His great work, are content to give the instruction Christ has given, and do not try to get up something new and singular, odd and strange, to create a sensation.

God must show every step of the way with new impulses of His Spirit every hour, because new scenes are opening and every hour has its duties and every movement its cares. He is present in every meeting, marking the course of each one and watching each movement made, and He will direct all changes made if His servants follow His guidance. Each person is given a different mission and commission, with no two given precisely the same work, and each has his own manner of doing it that must be Christlike, with love for God as the mainspring of action, the heart filled with kindest tender compassion, hasty speech checked by a controlling power from above, never ruled by impulse and never out of patience, for His will, not human will, is to control.

The voice speaks through instruction given line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, bringing His people along step by step through many years of experience and many influences and guiding at every crisis with the word directing the way to walk in. Successive small instructions mark the right way, and nothing should cause deviation to the right or to the left. Those who have enjoyed that light and influence for years must patiently impart it as received to those in new fields who have not yet received it, including urgent bearing of the last warning message by outdoor preaching and tent camp-meetings.

Heeding or Refusing Direction

Receiving warnings and counsel with a willing, obedient heart marks the right way, strengthens purpose in Christ, and enables guiding others, while disregarding that clear direction through unbelief, prejudice, or resistance to reproof leads into darkness away from God's will. Following closely and implicitly every word given in warning and encouragement is the only safe path, and walking in that shown way brings blessing and special help, peace and joy, humility united with filial obedience and perfect trust, precious assurance and holy boldness, firm advance with the presence of Jesus, fruitfulness in the Scriptures, and a burden for souls. Turning aside to take oneself into one's own hands and become engrossed with financial matters and temporal projects brings loss of peace and joyousness, self-conceit and self-sufficiency, spiritual dryness and saplessness, poverty of soul, loss of burden for souls, unfitness for evangelical work, and a troubled, spiritually weakened mind. Listening to other voices instead of God's voice leaves a person confused and bewildered in principle, without clear spiritual vision, going astray and leading others astray, for God has spoken to give light to lead and guide in principle.

The admonishing voice saying this is the way, walk in it, is warning given for years to receive His words, take heed to them, and make works perfect before Him. A resisting heart may reject that direction even after long guidance through admonitions, warnings, appeals, and reproof, choosing its own judgment, independence, will, and way instead of obedience. Those who will not receive it follow their own will and way and present a ragged practice God does not accept, and by refusal the enemy obtains victory over mind and heart and will, leading them, blinding spiritual eyesight, stealing entrusted gifts, and putting deceptive imaginings and error clothed as truth in place of the Word of life and truth. Guidance can come as a voice of warning and reproof marking out the right path, and it may be repeatedly received yet disregarded. Revealed truth corrects errors and makes clear how God's people should walk, and that guidance is to be received from the Word and shared with others.

Suffering saints who have been deceived are not left without the Spirit, for He seeks to win and woo them, and when they cling and cleave to God and listen to His voice He wins them and directs them in the right way. Heaven's light flashed across the pathway of the Pharisees while Christ sat eating with publicans and sinners in calm, kind, courteous friendliness and mercy. That flashing light was direction to those haughty, self-exalting men who depreciated, hated, and despised publicans and sinners to leave their own course and walk in Christ's way of mercy toward the sinful. They in pride exalted themselves and spurned the gift held out to them, and because they refused such privilege and light their guilt in the sight of God became greater than that of the publicans and sinners.

Jesus as the true Shepherd is heard on the path telling believers which way to walk, and His leading must be recognized and His instructions followed. Those who follow the true Shepherd step by step hear and recognize His voice and are warned away from false guides. Workers tainted by wrong principles lead away from that path where His voice is heard and must not be followed, so that the grand and noble work to be done in this period of the world's history can be accomplished.

Guidance in Daily Living

The directing word is heard by youth in school who are determined to obtain instruction fitting them for the higher grade, telling them the way to walk as a still, small voice. To hear it they must so conduct themselves as to be susceptible to the influences of the Holy Spirit, and the student who submits his will to God's will has ministering angels attending every step. Angels in the appearance of men walk beside such a student. God makes the way clear at every step to those who humbly seek His direction, and as they yield He leads them in safe paths while their views are changed through experience. His servants must stay wide-awake to distinguish the true from the false.

Strength is not found in prosperity and larger buildings but in being meek and lowly of heart, learning the right way daily in Christ's school by asking at every step whether this is the Lord's way. That inquiry is made by prayer and supplication to know His will instead of stumbling along in uncertainty with only finite wisdom, and it belongs especially to managers of institutions. The call to follow the right way requires truthful and upright conduct in business and speech, refusing deception and even slight dishonesty. Such firmness in principle shows that truth is sanctifying the heart and character. God guided James and kept him from going to extremes in either direction so that he could continue serving and strengthen others, and his sound judgment and the confidence placed in him mark divine guidance.

God Himself makes a way and a straight path and commands His messengers to walk in His way and not after human devisings, going straight forward in right lines with no variableness nor shadow of turning. His servant is willing to walk in the known right way even when doing so is painful or opposed by others. That means continuing united thorough labor where interest is awakened instead of cutting the work short. God directs the path by a voice heard behind, speaking through instruction given line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, bringing His people along step by step through many years of experience and many influences. Nothing is to cause deviation to the right or to the left, but the instruction given is to be followed and the light as received is to be imparted.

Those who have enjoyed that light and influence for years must patiently impart it to those in new fields who have not yet received it, including urgent bearing of the last warning message by outdoor preaching and tent camp-meetings. God's word is voiced through worn, experienced servants to show others the right way to walk, and those who have long borne burdens should preserve the life God has given them so they can teach with pen and voice from broad experience. They are to educate younger workers by precept and example how to bear the strain of labor without presumptuous overwork that sacrifices life. The voice by the Holy Spirit tells a person God's will and the way to walk in it, and blame rests on him when he does not obey. It calls him to give himself to God without reservation and without making terms, to be led and molded by Jesus, to leave his own chosen work and worldly schemes, to overcome weak points of character plainly opened before him, to resist temptation, to stop following his own independent judgment, and to do the given work of saving souls, in which he would have been blessed and would have gone from strength to strength in knowing the Lord.

The guiding word is heard by looking constantly to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Leader and moving forward in faith, not by heeding supposedly wise men who declare the way. Turning neither to the right hand nor to the left is keeping the eyes fixed on Christ so as not to be led astray, asking God for spiritual enlightenment to move safely and intelligently even when unbelief blocks the way and hindering phantoms arise. In Battle Creek that divine guidance is counterfeited by many human voices demanding that others walk in their footsteps as the only right way. Those voices come from Sabbathkeepers who have served self and neglected duty until their spiritual senses are dulled, and their pressure to follow human footsteps instead of God's way makes holding counsel among them a great danger.