Christians use certain expressions so often in prayer that we may say them without much thought about what we are actually asking. One of those is the familiar request that God would “guide, guard, and direct us.” It is a good prayer, but what does it mean? How does God guide us? How does He guard us? How does He direct our paths?
Those questions become especially important when we think about giving God control of our lives. It is easy to ask God to lead us while still insisting on going our own way. We pray for His guidance, but then make decisions according to our own judgment. We ask Him to direct our paths, but sometimes determine the path ourselves and hope He will bless it afterward. Scripture presents something different. God’s guidance requires our willingness to submit to Him.
Letting God Guide Us
Psalm 32 provides an interesting picture of what it means to be guided by God. The Lord says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” He then warns, “Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle” (Psalm 32:8–9).
The picture is easy to understand. A stubborn animal has to be restrained and compelled to go where its master wants it to go. God does not want His people to respond to Him that way. He wants us willingly to submit ourselves to His instruction.
In that sense, the old expression of “breaking” a horse has something to it. A wild horse may possess tremendous strength, but that strength is of little use to a rider until the animal learns to yield. Submission does not destroy its strength; it brings that strength under control. There is a spiritual lesson there. Submitting ourselves to God is not weakness. Strength lies in bringing our will under His.
That submission should not be limited to difficult periods in our lives. Scripture says of God, “For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death” (Psalm 48:14). God is not merely our guide through the crisis of the moment. He is to be our guide “forever and ever.”
Sometimes we become most conscious of our need for God when life becomes difficult. We pray more earnestly when we are hurting, uncertain, afraid, or facing opposition. Yet prosperity can present its own spiritual danger. When things are going well, it is easy to become less dependent upon God and less conscious of our need for His guidance.
Daniel provides a helpful example. When the decree was signed forbidding petitions to anyone other than the king, Daniel went home and prayed, “as was his custom since early days” (Daniel 6:10). Daniel did not begin seeking God when the crisis came. Prayer was already part of his life. His dependence upon God in adversity grew out of a life that had already been directed toward God.
If we want God’s guidance in every part of life, then seeking Him cannot be reserved for emergencies.
But how does God provide that guidance? Jesus promised the apostles that the Holy Spirit would “guide” them “into all truth” (John 16:13). Through the Spirit, the apostles received and communicated the truth Christ intended His people to have. Peter later wrote that God’s divine power “has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him” (2 Peter 1:3).
We therefore should not separate our desire for God’s guidance from our devotion to God’s Word. We have the words revealed through those whom the Spirit guided. If we want God to guide our lives, we must be willing to submit to what He has revealed, remain mindful of His Word in our decisions, and continually return to Scripture so our thinking is shaped by His will rather than our own.
Letting God Guard Us
God’s guarding us is also tied to our responsibility to guard ourselves.
David said, “I will guard my ways, lest I sin with my tongue” (Psalm 39:1). He understood that faithfulness required deliberate watchfulness over his own conduct. In some situations, people become especially conscious of how they behave. We may be careful around other Christians while allowing ourselves greater liberties somewhere else. However, guarding our ways cannot depend upon who happens to be watching. The concern is not merely maintaining appearances before other people. It is guarding ourselves against sin before God.
Paul gave Timothy a similar responsibility: “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust” (1 Timothy 6:20). Timothy had been entrusted with something valuable, and he was responsible for protecting it! The same principle should cause us to think seriously about what God has entrusted to us—our faith, our opportunities for service, and the truth by which we live.
At the same time, Scripture also speaks of God guarding His people. Paul wrote, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” The result is that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7).
That kind of guarding reaches inward. Anxiety, fear, temptation, and the influences of the world can assault the heart and mind. Paul points Christians toward prayer, thanksgiving, and the peace that comes through Christ.
We also rightly ask God to protect us from the wickedness around us. Paul asked the Thessalonians to pray “that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men,” and then expressed his confidence that “the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one” (2 Thessalonians 3:2–3).
It is therefore entirely appropriate to pray for God’s protection. We may ask Him to guard us from those who would harm us and from the schemes of the evil one. Nevertheless, biblical guardianship is not passive. We pray for God to guard us while also guarding our own ways. We trust His protection while taking our responsibility seriously to remain faithful.
Letting God Direct Us
The idea of “direction” can be understood in more than one way. We can direct our attention toward something, meaning that we deliberately focus upon it. David did precisely that with God: “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up” (Psalm 5:3).
Before asking where God will direct us, it helps to ask where we are directing our attention. David began his day by turning his thoughts and petitions toward God. There is wisdom in that pattern. Direct your attention toward God, and you are placing yourself in a position to be directed by Him.
But “direct” can also mean to point or lead someone toward a particular destination. That is often what we have in mind when we pray, “Lord, direct me.” We want to know which way to go.
Interestingly, guarding and directing appear together in Paul’s words to the Thessalonians. After saying that the Lord would “guard you from the evil one,” Paul continued, “Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:3, 5). God’s guarding and His directing complement one another. He guards His people from evil while directing their hearts toward what is good—the love of God and the patience of Christ.
Perhaps the clearest biblical description of this kind of direction is found in Proverbs:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths”
(Proverbs 3:5–6).
Notice what comes before the promise that He will direct our paths. We must trust Him. We must refuse to make our own understanding the final authority. We must acknowledge Him in all our ways. Only then does the statement follow: “He shall direct your paths.”
That changes the way we think about asking God for direction. We are not asking God merely to reveal which choice will make life easier, which opportunity will be most successful, or which path will produce the outcome we prefer. We are committing ourselves to trust Him enough to follow the path that accords with His will!
Guide, Guard, and Direct Us
These three ideas so often appear together in our prayers for good reason. They, indeed, complement one another.
We ask God to guide us, but His guidance requires willing submission. We seek Him not merely when trouble comes, but consistently, as Daniel did. We remain in His Word because God has not left us without instruction concerning how we should live.
We ask God to guard us, trusting His faithfulness and praying for deliverance from evil. At the same time, we accept our responsibility to guard our own ways, our hearts, our conduct, and what God has entrusted to us.
Moreover, we ask God to direct us. Yet before asking Him to direct our paths, we direct our attention toward Him. We trust Him rather than leaning upon our own understanding, and we acknowledge Him in all our ways.
None of this minimizes the providence of God. We should pray for His providential care. We should ask Him to open doors, protect us, help us, and lead us according to His will. But prayer for God’s providence should never become a substitute for doing what He has already told us to do.
Perhaps, then, when we pray, “Lord, guide, guard, and direct us,” we should hear more in those words than we sometimes have before. We are asking God to work in our lives, but we are also committing ourselves to submit to His guidance, seek His protection while guarding our own ways, and trust Him enough to follow where His Word directs us.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6).
