For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1.7).

How we view and talk about God’s dealings with us from day to day can have a considerable effect upon our openness to his guidance in the great decisions of life. Many Christians have picked up a manner of thinking and speaking known as pietistic speech, which is very damaging to the perception of genuine guidance. These friends constantly ascribe all kinds of everyday events to the special and direct intervention of the Lord, as though their lives were filled with minor miracles. They believe this way of speaking is ‘spiritual’, and just what the Lord wants to see in his people. However, it frequently leads to a form of spiritual ‘superstition’ in which Christians interpret their perceived interventions by God as signals of guidance.

The immediate cause of any occurrence in our lives may be natural or human, as natural forces and processes (known as second causes) are allowed to affect our lives under God’s supervision. Often the devil is permitted to influence affairs, as he did when Paul said – ‘But Satan hindered us.’ Frequently we ourselves, through our sin or foolishness, are the real cause of our bad circumstances,

the authors of many of our own misfortunes, and the Lord permits it for our sanctification. God is sovereign, and nothing happens to us except by his consent and overruling, as we see from the opening chapters of Job. We must not drift into the idea that only small, earthly and good things are examples of his providence. Why should we single out life’s happy surprises and coincidences as instances of God’s work in our lives? Why not talk about the days when nothing remarkable happened, or about times of illness and failure? Does not God superintend all that happens to his children?

Here are some of the consequences of pietistic speaking, showing how it may distort our view of the Christian life and confuse any quest for guidance. Those who engage in it are likely to become very subjective in their spiritual lives, ever focused on what is happening to them. Further, because their minds are so focused on seeing interventions of God they become increasingly vulnerable to their own imagination. Some become ‘yo-yo’ or ‘up-and-down’ believers, whose assurance and peace is entirely dependent upon their seeing a constant flow of divine interventions in their lives. They watch almost superstitiously for little signs, rather than resting on the Word and the promises of God. Ultimately, their faith depends upon apparent coincidences and hopeful comforts, these being the chief evidence that God’s hand is upon them.

The writer remembers a young man who was most unhappy about something his church proposed to do. The objective was wholesome, and much needed, and the church had proceeded on the basis of biblical principles, but no amount of reasoning could help this young man see the value of the project. Then someone happened to tell him about a very small event which had occurred in the initial stages of the project and which had cleared away a hindrance. The unhappy young man’s face lit up at once, and, like a superstitious person who had found a lucky charm, he changed his opinion dramatically and totally. He had not been amenable to the need recognised by his church, but half an ounce of coincidence outweighed all his reservations. It is very possible that the small event that had made all the difference to his outlook was an intervention of the Lord, but it was never intended to be the exclusive, authoritative, decisive piece of guidance, and we have lost our way when we think only in these terms. It does not take much imagination to see the difficulties which many believers get into because they make similar coincidental or surprising occurrences the sole or chief basis of their guidance.

. . . to be continued