Discerning Guidance
Minister’s Letter – 1 October 2026
Friends in Christ, some years ago, a very good friend of mine, working in a Christian organisation, reported this story from a colleague:
She said, “I’m a signs person. My sign is butterflies. When I need to make a decision, I pray that God will show me a butterfly. And yesterday a butterfly came in through the door with me, so I knew I was doing the right thing.”
The context was her report to my friend that she had split from her husband. I was gob-smacked. But this Christian lady was not embarrassed to reveal her practical theology in action. It raises the question of how we obtain guidance from God about his will for us.
Paul writes that holy Scripture is able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ and that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, to equip us thoroughly for every good work (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
In the Thirty-Nine Articles, our subsidiary Anglican standard of faith, Article 6 states
Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.
God’s Word, the Bible, is our ultimate authority and guide.
Why do we say this? It’s because Jesus valued the Bible that same way.
Just before the start of his public ministry, when tempted by Satan, Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4). We do not live by some of the words of God. No picking and choosing there. We are to rely on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus teaches that what the Scriptures say, God says. And God does not lie.
So the Bible is the best place to obtain guidance from God for the Christian life from start to finish. Of course, it does not mention many things invented later, but since it’s ultimate author is God, he could foresee what challenges were to come for us.
And he ensured everything we needed was included in the promises, principles, examples, commands, warnings and above all, in the plan of salvation he unfolded progressively through the Scriptures, till they reached their climax in the coming of Christ.
What about other sources of guidance? No doubt God could could miraculously write a message on the wall just for you, as he did in Daniel’s day. But it’s not his usual practice. That was rarer than hen’s teeth, even for Old Testament times!
Sometimes circumstances seem to line up in ways that seem wise and providential, and you assume it is God’s doing. And I understand people from non-Christian backgrounds have somegtimes had dreams in which they beleive Jesus appeared to them, and this began their path to conversion.
In every case, with the Apostle John, I would say: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,” (1 John 4:1). Or as Paul says: test all claims to prophecy (or any other guidance) and hold onto what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:20-22).
Follow the example of the “noble Bereans” in Acts 17:11, who “received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”
So if you want guidance, search the Scriptures. And if you think Goid may be guiding you by some other means, test it against what the Scriptures say.
And if you want to convince us to do something differently at St Andrew’s Cathedral, show us from the Scriptures why we should change.
Warmly in Christ,
Sandy Grant
Dean of Sydney
P.S. I recommend the following books regarding the Bible…
On the Bible’s nature, authority and sufficiency… The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction by Mark Thompson (a member of our Cathedral)
On finding God’s will … Guidance and the Voice of God by Phillip Jensen (a former Dean of this Cathedral) & Tony Payne
Tools for understanding the Bible: How to Read the Bible Better by Richard Chin
Help for reading the Bible with a friend: One to One Bible Reading by David Helm