In interpreting God’s providences, as in interpreting Scripture, we are dependent upon the Holy Spirit. The work of the Spirit is, indeed, in great part an application of Scripture truth to present circumstances. While we never allow ourselves to act blindly and irrationally, but accustom ourselves to weigh evidence with regard to duty, we are to expect, as the gift of the Spirit, an understanding of circumstances—a fine sense of God’s providential purposes with regard to us, which will make our true course plain to ourselves, although we may not always be able to explain it to others. The Christian may have a continual divine guidance. Unlike the unfaithful and unbelieving, of whom it is said, in _Ps. 106:13_, “_They waited not for his counsel,_” the true believer has wisdom given him from above. _Ps. 32:8_—“_I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go_”; _Prov. 3:6_—“_In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths_”; _Phil. 1:9_—“_And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment_” (αἰσθήσει = spiritual discernment); _James 1:5_—“_if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth_ (τοῦ διδόντος Θεοῦ) _to all liberally and upbraideth not_”; _John 15:15_—“_No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends_”; _Col. 1:9, 10_—“_that ye may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing._” God’s Spirit makes Providence as well as the Bible personal to us. From every page of nature, as well as of the Bible, the living God speaks to us. Tholuck: “The more we recognize in every daily occurrence God’s secret inspiration, guiding and controlling us, the more will all which to others wears a common and every-day aspect prove to us a sign and a wondrous work.” Hutton, Essays: “Animals that are blind slaves of impulse, driven about by forces from within, have so to say fewer valves in their moral constitution for the entrance of divine guidance. But minds alive to every word of God give constant opportunity for his interference with suggestions that may alter the course of their lives. The higher the mind, the more it glides into the region of providential control. God turns the good by the slightest breath of thought.” So the Christian hymn, “Guide me, O thou great Jehovah!” likens God’s leading of the believer to that of Israel by the pillar of fire and cloud; and Paul in his dungeon calls himself “_the prisoner of Christ Jesus_” (_Eph. 3:1_). Affliction is the discipline of God’s providence. Greek proverb: “He who does not get thrashed, does not get educated.” On God’s Leadings, see A. H. Strong, Philosophy and Religion, 560-562.