Why Do We Need to Hold God’s Hand? 

by Jefferson David Tant

There’s a familiar spiritual song titled “Hold to God’s Unchanging Hand,” and another is titled “I Hold His Hand.” Both hymns offer good thoughts that convey a meaningful message. Let us consider some reasons why we should trust God and “hold his hand.”

May I suggest that we need to hold God’s hand because we do not know the right path to take on our own in our journey to eternity. We may see a blind person on the street led by another person or a guide dog. Otherwise, the blind would not know how to go where he wanted to go. The prophet wrote: “I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). In life, we are on a journey to eternity, and we really need to know the right way to go.

Many years ago, Leonard Burford was the music department head at Abilene Christian College. He was totally blind. I took two of his classes, including chorus. Sometimes I saw him at the bus stop and offered him a ride to his home. There was no way that he could walk and find his way home without some help. And so it is with us who need a guiding hand to lead us to our heavenly home.

Once Christ rebuked the Pharisees, and his disciples questioned him about this. "'But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' And after He called the multitude to Him, He said to them, 'Hear, and understand. Not what enters into the mouth defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.' Then the disciples came and said to Him, 'Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?' But He answered and said, 'Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit'" (Matthew 15:9-14).

Who were the Pharisees? They were the religious leaders among the Jews. They believed in God and followed the teaching of the Law as given by Moses, but through the years they had added to the revelation from God. They were teaching “doctrines and precepts of men.” John added some closing words about this. “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18-19).

Now, if we follow the “doctrines of men,” who is leading us? Who else but Satan, the great deceiver? Does he state that if we follow him we will burn in hell forever? Obviously not. He is a liar and knows how to present his doctrines in an appealing manner. “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12). So, how does Satan deceive us today? In the same way he did Adam and Eve and the Jewish Nation. By nature, Satan is a liar and deceiver.

Consider that God has given us the Bible, His inspired words. Why do we need anything else? Why do we need the “doctrines of men?” God inspired the prophets to give Israel the Old Testament writings. But Satan had a plan, too. “Then the LORD said to me, 'The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds'” (Jeremiah 14:14).

Satan is still alive and deceiving. Consider that God inspired the first-century apostles and prophets to give us the 27 New Testament books. Paul encouraged Timothy: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3:16-17). If the Scriptures are “adequate” and “equip us for every good work,” then what need do we have for the “doctrines of men” contained in the church manuals, creeds, and catechisms that proliferate today? The Scriptures were sufficient for hundreds of years before men began writing the creeds, etc., that define the 42,000 different (Christian) denominations that exist today.

Do the creeds teach the same as the Bible? If so, we don’t need them. If they teach something different, then that is a “different doctrine.” Paul warned the Galatians about this. “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel” (Galatians 1:6).

Does the Baptist Manual teach the same thing that the Bible does? Consider the following from the Baptist Manual: “It is most likely that in the Apostolic age when there was but "one Lord, one faith, and one baptism," and no differing denominations existed, the baptism of a convert by that very act constituted him a member of the church, and at once endowed him with all the rights and privileges of full membership. In that sense, ‘baptism was the door into the church.' Now, it is different..." (The Standard Manual for Baptist Churches, Edward T. Hiscox, pg. 22). That looks like a “different gospel” to me. Who said God’s teaching is now “different?” My Bible still reads the same as it has for 2,000 years.

Does the Methodist Discipline teach the same thing that the Bible does? Consider the following from the Discipline: “Wherefore, that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine and very full of comfort." Then I open my Bible to James 2:24: “You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.”

Does the Catholic Catechism teach the same things that the Bible does? We are well aware that the Catholic Church forbids bishops and pastors, etc., from being married. Yet the Bible commands that they must be married. “Faithful is the saying, If a man seeks the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife…” (I Timothy 3:1-2)

Question: Who gave permission to change even one word of the Bible’s teaching?

Obviously, we don’t have the space to cover the differing doctrines of the 42,000 denominations claiming to be Christian. If they all agreed with the Bible and taught the same thing, we wouldn’t need them. But since they teach doctrines that not only contradict the Bible, but contradict one another, we know this is not from God, for “for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints” (I Corinthians 14:33).

Satan has his ministers who may also be deceived. Paul warned: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" (II Corinthians 11:13-14).

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). And what is the “one body?” It is Christ’s church. The passage doesn’t read “There are 42,000 different bodies, and one Spirit…” True churches of Christ have no creed but the Bible. We seek to be what disciples were in the first century—just Christians holding on to God’s guiding hand. Only He can guide us in the right way to the light.

“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18).

Who gave man the right to change even one word of God’s revelation? Who else but Satan!