{"id":57846,"date":"2023-01-13T12:08:19","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T18:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=57846"},"modified":"2023-01-13T12:08:19","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T18:08:19","slug":"does-god-direct-our-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-direct-our-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Does God direct our lives?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>I have appreciated your website and the answers you share from the truth of God&#8217;s word.\u00a0 I thought maybe you could help me with this: A friend is telling me that God reveals things to us about what to do about jobs, health, etc. In the sense that God directs our path, I suppose He reveals things to us.\u00a0 I&#8217;m afraid she is saying that outside of God&#8217;s word, there are other revelations.\u00a0 How do I respond?<\/p>\n<p>Thank you!<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>My first thought would be to ask your friend if Satan influences people to their detriment. If she says &#8220;yes,&#8221; then I would ask how she can determine that a particular &#8220;leading&#8221; is from God or from Satan. Somewhere along the line, she is going to have to appeal to a moral standard. The only standard that has proven accurate over the course of time is the Bible. See\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/standards\/\">Standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>God does manipulate His creation to accomplish His goals. &#8220;<em>The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps<\/em>&#8221; (Proverbs 16:9). This does not mean that God directly communicates with people and tells them what to do. This verse implies that men have free will. We make our decisions, but we also know things don&#8217;t always work out the way we plan. One reason for this is that our decisions may not align with God&#8217;s choices and He nudges things to accomplish His goals. See\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gods-providence\/\">God&#8217;s Providence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The problem is that people assume that any &#8220;nudging&#8221; by God has to be done through direct communication or feelings that a person has. God has used direct communication in the past, but God told us that He has chosen to tell us everything we need to know through His Word &#8212; the Bible. &#8220;<em>God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world<\/em>&#8221; (Hebrews 1:1-2). See\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-speak-directly-to-mankind-today\/\">Does God Speak Directly to Mankind Today?<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-is-speaking-to-you\/\">God Is Speaking to You<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: I have appreciated your website and the answers you share from the truth of God&#8217;s word.\u00a0 I thought maybe you could help me with this: A friend is telling me that God reveals things to us about what to do about jobs, health, etc. In the sense that God directs our path, I suppose&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[981,90,187],"class_list":["post-57846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-communication","tag-god","tag-providence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28327,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-believe-in-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":57846,"position":0},"title":"I Believe in God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant Although our nation is declining in its religious values, many still believe in God. And if you ask the average person if they believe in God, they will probably give you an affirmative answer. In fact, in a pleasant conversation I was having with a woman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93004,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/serpent-voice\/","url_meta":{"origin":57846,"position":1},"title":"Serpent Voice","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton It is surprising that the adversary of God and man, Satan, could use a serpent and project words through such a creature, but he had such power to trick Eve (Genesis 3). She was not discerning enough to know that evil was at work, undermining the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83340,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-wasnt-the-child-rescued\/","url_meta":{"origin":57846,"position":2},"title":"Why wasn&#8217;t the child rescued?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, First, thank you for your ministry and for sharing. I came across your site and read the timeline for when Jesus was raised in three days. I have a follow up question on this post: \"Why didn't God rescue my friend?\" The reader asked why God didn't rescue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65464,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/some-observations-on-judging\/","url_meta":{"origin":57846,"position":3},"title":"Some Observations on Judging","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by George Bosworth Some observations about judging, from I Corinthians 4:3-5: \"I (Paul) am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. It is the Lord who judges me. So don't judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15912,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-for-a-husband-to-not-honor-his-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":57846,"position":4},"title":"What does it mean for a husband to not honor his wife?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered\" (I Peter 3:7). I have some questions about this verse: If a husband is not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32034,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-teach-my-fiance-that-dancing-in-worship-instrumental-music-and-women-preachers-are-a-big-deal-if-you-want-to-please-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":57846,"position":5},"title":"How do I teach my fiance that dancing in worship, instrumental music, and women preachers are a big deal if you want to please God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm getting my fiance to come to a church of Christ from being a Baptist. She had decided to study with me and learn the Word together, but it seems still a little hard to do so. For one, her mother is always in her ear and to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}