It Does Come With a Guidebook

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” — Psalm 119:105 (ESV)

Adjusting to faith has not always been easy for me. Having spent so much of my life without it, I developed an enormous hunger for knowledge, detail and understanding. I wanted to know how everything fitted together and find answers to every question. If there was something I did not understand, I wanted to keep digging until I did, and patience was in fairly short supply. Let me know it now!

That desire to learn is not a bad thing, but it can become exhausting when we convince ourselves that we must understand everything immediately. During one conversation with my Minister, I was rabbiting away about precisely this problem. I explained how difficult I was finding it to control my hunger for more knowledge and how impatient I could become when understanding did not arrive quickly enough.

Then I looked at him and said with a sigh: “It’s not like it comes with a guidebook, is it?”

I carried on talking for a few moments before noticing a gentle smile on his face. Nothing smug or unkind and nothing that made me feel uncomfortable. It was warm, patient and knowing. His expression seemed to say: “I’m just going to give this fella a minute to work out what he has just said.”

Eventually, I did. We laughed about it, and it was an understated moment between us, the kind he probably encounters every day and might barely remember in a year's time. I, however, will remember forever. It demonstrated his warmth and gentleness, but it also reminded me how freely I could speak to him. I could share my confusion, ask questions and even say something spectacularly obvious without feeling judged.

That, I think, is something every good church should offer. Church should be a place where people feel safe enough to ask questions, admit uncertainty and occasionally get things completely wrong or, as my mum used to say, occasionally looking a bit of a pillock! It should not be a room in which people feel pressured to pretend they understand more than they do. It should be a place where we can learn, grow and sometimes laugh at ourselves without fear of embarrassment; after all, faith really does come with a guidebook.

A Lamp, Not a Floodlight

The Bible is not a manual containing a simple, immediate answer to every practical question we will ever ask. It does not tell us precisely which job to take, where to live or what every event in our lives means. What it does provide is something deeper: the truth about who God is, who we are and how we are called to live.

Psalm 119 describes God’s Word as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. A lamp does not necessarily illuminate the entire road ahead. It gives us enough light to see where we are standing and where to place our next step.

Perhaps that is why faith requires patience. I often want God to switch on a floodlight and reveal the whole route at once. I want every question settled, every mystery explained and every destination clearly marked. Yet Scripture frequently invites us to walk differently, taking one step at a time and trusting the light we have been given.

The answers are not always hidden from us, but neither are they always discovered in a hurry. We must pause, read, search, pray, feel and listen. We must give ourselves the time and space to encounter Scripture rather than merely racing through it in pursuit of information.

Give Yourself Time

That conversation with my Minister reminded me that learning about God should not become another source of pressure. The hunger to know more is precious, but it must be accompanied by patience with Scripture, with God and with ourselves.

We have been given God’s Word, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and a community in which we can learn alongside others. We have not been left alone to stumble through the darkness. We can pause, take our time, search faithfully and ask our questions honestly, allowing Scripture to guide our next step even when it does not reveal the whole road.

It turns out that faith really does come with a guidebook. We just have to give ourselves the time and space to discover what it has been saying all along.

Questions for Reflection

1. Do you ever place pressure on yourself to understand every aspect of faith immediately?
2. Is there a question you need to approach with greater patience rather than urgency?
3. How has Scripture provided light for your next step without revealing the whole path?
4. Does your church help people feel safe enough to ask questions and admit uncertainty?