Neville Turley

“For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.”   Psalm 48:14 (NIV)

Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand mountaineer and Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa guide made history when they conquered Mount Everest on 29 May 1953. The world applauded their heroic feat and they were laden with honours and awards.

Journalists persistently repeated one question to them, “Who was the very first to actually step on the summit?” They never got an answer. The two men had made a promise to each other that they would never disclose who got to the top first.  For them their climb had been a team effort and neither of them would have survived alone. 

They honoured that promise. Norgay died in 1986 and Hillary in 2008. No one will now ever really know who was the first to conquer Mount Everest. History records that they conquered Everest together.

God has made us a lifelong promise too. He will be our guide forever - but how do we receive God’s guidance?

First and foremost, there must be a desire on our part to know God and to do his will.

We need to systematically read the Scriptures, not in one big gulp but slowly digesting passage by passage, verse by verse. We will not understand all that we read but God does not expect us to find the answers on our own. His Holy Spirit helps us to understand the Scriptures and apply it to our life.

God guides us too through our prayers. Our Lord’s life was one of regular prayer.  We need to follow his example.

We must be careful not to only pray for what we want. More important is to hear what God wants from us.Prayer is not only ask, ask. It is listen, listen, listen to the voice of God speaking to your heart.

If we stand on the promise of God in our verse for today, we will never be alone.  He will be our constant guide. What a faithful God we serve.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father; thank you for the assurance that you will never leave us.  May your Holy Spirit guide us today and every day.  How blessed we are through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen