The Christian comedian Adrian Plass once wrote a story about a man who was convinced God wanted him to move to the Middle East. Why? Because he was praying for guidance, and every time he opened the Bible it mysteriously mentioned the land of Israel.

Plass’ writings are full of humorous moments like this, which are so funny because my entire life has been full of people reading the Bible exactly like this.

“Should I take this job, because I happened to read about Joseph being promoted in Egypt this morning?”

“Should I marry this person, because today’s Bible reading mentioned Isaac and Rebekah?”

“Should I move house, because the sermon included the words, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house”?”

After the service every Sunday our church has a time we call “Table Talk” when we talk through together what the Bible says about interesting topics. Our focus in these few weeks is how God speaks today and how we hear him.

And a really common misreading of the Bible today is to see how God speaks to and through many prophets and assume that must be how he speaks to and through us today.

The Bible is full of prophets that God spoke to and through in a special way precisely because he spoke to and through them in a special way. If God spoke to you and me in the same way he spoke to Isaiah, then why did he give Isaiah a particular call (Isaiah 6)? If God spoke through you and me in the same way he spoke through Moses, then why did God appear to Moses to call him from a burning bush (Exodus 3)?

God does indeed speak to and through you and me today: in his Word that he has published in the Bible. And this Word isn’t dead, it’s living and active (Hebrews 4:12).

So, don’t read, for example, Genesis, and assume that the way God led men like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is going to be the same way he leads you and me today. The Bible explicitly says—very clearly and in many places—that God called these men in a particular and special way. Acts 7:2 explicitly says “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham…” Why? Because he and his children had a special call (Genesis 12:1-3; 17:7; 22:1-2; 26:2-5; 28:12-15; 35:9-12; Psalm 105:8-11; Hebrews 11:8-9). The book of Hebrews even begins by explicitly telling us that the way God speaks has changed:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, (Hebrews 1:1-2)

If we want to understand more about how God guides us, then look at some explicit places in the Bible that explain this clearly. And don’t just pull verses out of context, but read what they actually say carefully, in the whole text that God has placed them.

One such helpful place is Proverbs 3:5-8:

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
   and do not lean on your own understanding.
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him,
   and he will make straight your paths.
⁷ Be not wise in your own eyes;
   fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
⁸ It will be healing to your flesh
   and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8)

Solomon tells us, first, to trust God. He then unpacks this as “in all your ways acknowledge him.” How do we acknowledge God?

The Apostles’ Creed helps here. Here’s how the Apostles’ Creed starts:

I believe in God the Father Almighty (Apostles’ Creed)

This is a great summary of what the Bible teaches us about God:

1. He is God: so don’t expect to understand everything. Much of what he does and the specific reasons are necessarily hidden from us.
2. He is your Father: so know that whatever he does, he does from grace, for your good, because he loves you, because you’re his child.
3. He is Almighty: so everything that happens is somehow within his providence. Even evil things that happen to you, while not directly caused by him, are permitted, limited, and used for your good in his eternal plans that we can’t possibly understand.

That’s why Solomon gives you this assurance: “and he will make straight your paths.”

This is not a promise that God will reveal to you what is going to happen or what you should do. God has not promised to dictate the details of your life to you.

People often misread the verse as meaning this. But that doesn’t make sense in context, because Solomon has just said “do not lean on your own understanding.” If God had promised to give me the specific answer to every decision, then Proverbs 3 would be mainly about decoding guidance. But Solomon’s emphasis is different. He calls me to trust the Lord precisely where my understanding is limited.

That means making decisions when I have not been given a specific message about what is best next, when I do not know the specific outcome, and when I do not know exactly what will happen with each decision I make.

Proverbs 3:5–6 is not a promise that God will reveal the next step. It is a promise that God will govern the path of the one who trusts him.

This is why Solomon completes the oracle in verses 7-8 by talking about humility. Don’t be wise in your own eyes in this sense: recognise I am evil, I am limited, I don’t have full information, I am entirely dependent.

Instead “fear the Lord”—recognise he is the one who is God, the Father, and Almighty. And that I am not.

Trust him, and he’ll direct your paths. Even when you don’t know what to do. Living this way is truly healing, refreshing, life-giving.

It is only in this sense that God directs us in the same way as he did the prophets of old. They, as we, lived without full information and so lived by trusting the God they did not fully understand.

Paul is explicit about this in Romans 4. Paul says there that Abraham is the father of all

“who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” (Romans 4:12).

The part of Abraham’s life we emulate is not that part where he knew something that had been specially revealed:

“Go from your country…” and “Go… …to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).

Instead, the part of Abraham’s life we emulate is that part where he didn’t know something because it hadn’t been specially revealed, but trusted God’s promise anyway:

“He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.” (Romans 4:19)

Abraham trusted God’s Word. He trusted what God had actually said to him—what God had explicitly promised him. Even when he had no idea how that would, or even could, be fulfilled. We do the same.

So Abraham is an example of faith, not a template for expecting ongoing private revelation.

We are like Abraham in that we trust God without seeing the whole road. We are not like Abraham in that we should expect God to speak new directions to us as he did to Abraham.

This coming Sunday at Manchester Lutheran Church, we are hearing God speak to us from Romans 11:33-36, a passage all about faith in the God of mystery. I will put the link to that sermon into this post afterwards. But why not join us this Sunday and hear God speak good things to us, even without understanding all the details?

We’ve just completed a long and detailed series of blog posts on Romans 9-11, which has been all about trusting what God says and not inventing specifics where he hasn’t shared them.

In essence, all of us want certainty before obedience. We want control before trust. We want God to explain himself before we acknowledge him.

But God has not promised to explain every step. He has revealed his heart in Christ, not by giving us advance explanations of every detail of our lives. The Father who gave his Son for me is already working, even when the road is hidden.

So, use the ordinary means God has given. To know God and receive forgiveness and faith, receive Word and Sacrament in the church. To receive all the good things God wants to give you, ask him in Jesus’ name. To exercise your trust in God and walk in love in your vocations, make use of wisdom, counsel, and conscience, informed by the commandments. Then act in faith, not because you know the details, but because you know your Father.

Join us in Manchester every Sunday, or online from anywhere every Wednesday. This is where God gives you the trust that Solomon talks about, trust that acknowledges him in all your ways and knows he will make straight your paths.