One brother Brian Oduah was the protocol attaché who waited on me all through my stay in Lanham, Maryland. He was an excellent brother who always found a way out of every logjam. I learned a vital lesson by looking at the dashboard of his BMW X5. The navigational system attached to the vehicle has several options. One reads “resume guidance” while another reads “stop guidance”. I told him that the things I see around me serve as continuous guidance and teacher, referring to the indicators on the dashboard. Whenever he touched “stop guidance”, the maps and all aids to finding our bearing was wiped off the monitor. I told him that bears resemblance to God’s leading. If peradventure we press “stop guidance”, God will not force Himself on us. He will stop; hoping that we soon come to our wits’ end and run back to Him for help.
Well, people don’t press “stop guidance” on purpose; it is done inadvertently. For example, if we place ourselves in a blind spot, we are asking God to stop guidance. There is a good way to illustrate this. When Jesus was born, we read that wise man from the east came to pay homage. When they set out on their journey, a star guided them supernaturally. However, when they headed for Herod’s palace, they lost sight of the star. They never saw the star again until they came out of the palace. If you have enjoyed God’s guidance in the past but you seem to be groping in the dark now, you may need to check where you are standing. If you have moved yourself to a blind spot, your hope of enjoying guidance once more is to relocate. Another way by which people stop guidance is by disregarding the Holy Spirit. Among the several functions of the Holy Spirit is one that guides us into all truths. This is why our text enjoins us not to quench the Spirit. Quenching the Spirit begins with grieving Him. We cannot routinely grieve the Spirit and expect Him to be our guide at the same time.