You enquire how one who desires to follow the movements of God's spirit may distinguish these movements from the natural operations of the mind. There is not, at all times, a positive certainty regarding divine movements. If it were so, we should become infallible as the angels — that is, if we were as pure in our intentions.
We must walk with God, in entire abandonment and uncertainty, at the risk of sometimes making mistakes, which in the infancy of experience is unavoidable. He who wishes for a particular inspiration, or direction in common matters, which his own reason and judgment can determine, is liable to deception.
✦ The Courage to Be Uncertain
Guyon does something that very few spiritual writers have the courage to do: she tells the devoted soul to expect uncertainty. Not as a failure of faith. Not as a sign of spiritual immaturity. As the honest condition of a human soul walking with God. We are not angels. Our intentions are not perfectly pure. And therefore our discernment is not infallible — no matter how many years we have walked with Him, no matter how mature the interior life, no matter how faithfully we have risen before dawn.
We must walk with God, in entire abandonment and uncertainty, at the risk of sometimes making mistakes. This is brave writing. Because it means faith is not certainty. Faith is the willingness to walk without certainty — to risk being wrong — because the One we walk with is trustworthy even when our own discernment is not. The abandonment Guyon described in her prayer is not abandonment into perfect knowledge. It is abandonment into trust. And trust, by definition, operates where certainty does not. 🙏
She is brutally honest: if it were so, we should become infallible as the angels. Some pastors preach that we are already infallible. Far from it.
Walking in abandonment is harder. You have to leave the infallibility of your own reason and judgment behind. 🙏
Le names the cost plainly: walking in abandonment is harder. Harder than walking in certainty. Harder than walking with a map. Harder than walking with a pastor who tells you every step is divinely confirmed. Because abandonment means leaving behind the very thing the soul most craves — the infallibility of its own reason and judgment. And the pastor who claims infallibility for himself or his congregation has fallen into exactly the trap Guyon describes: wanting particular inspiration where reason and judgment can determine the matter. That desire is not faith. It is the avoidance of the responsibility God gave us when He gave us minds. 🙏
"We must walk with God, in entire abandonment and uncertainty, at the risk of sometimes making mistakes."
Madame Guyon · Faith is not certainty. Faith is trust where certainty cannot reach.A pure soul acts in simplicity, and without certainty, being persuaded that what is good comes from God, and what is not good from self. The greater the simplicity — the more separate from the mingling of self-activity — the purer are these operations; because the soul in this state is only a simple instrument, that the Word, which is in her, moves, so that it is the Word which speaks and not herself.
The divine Word, in all exigencies, is found in the soul that is wholly consecrated to Christ. "When they bring you before magistrates and kings, it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak."
This method of divine leading — by the hour and by the moment — leaves the soul always free and unencumbered, and ready for the slightest breath of the Lord.
This breath, in the pure soul, is as the gentle zephyr, and not as the whirlwind which shakes the earth. Do not then expect to have anticipated movements, or movements beforehand from God. I have an experience of many years, that God often makes known His will only in the time of action.
✦ The Gentle Zephyr — Not the Whirlwind
Jesus told His disciples: it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak. Not the night before. Not during preparation. In the hour. The soul that insists on having the answer before the moment arrives will miss the answer that was waiting inside the moment itself.
By the hour and by the moment. This is how Guyon describes the rhythm of divine leading — and it is the rhythm of the motorhome life exactly. No fixed schedule. No predetermined route. The Holy Spirit as navigator and timekeeper. Galatians 5:1 arriving before dawn in Brittany. The understanding arriving in the Eymet market. The Word speaking in the moment of need, not before.
And the image she gives is one of the most beautiful in all her letters: the gentle zephyr, not the whirlwind. Elijah learned this on Mount Horeb — God was not in the earthquake, not in the fire, not in the wind. He was in the still, small voice. 1 Kings 19:12. Guyon says the same: the divine breath in the pure soul is quiet, gentle, almost imperceptible. Do not expect the spectacular. Expect the zephyr. The soul that is ready for the slightest breath will hear what the soul waiting for the whirlwind will miss entirely. 🙏
✦ The Simple Instrument
The pure soul is a simple instrument that the Word moves. Not the performer. Not the originator. Not the one laboring for something new and original. The instrument. And the Word — which is in her, which dwells in the interior formed by years of faithful devotion — does the speaking. The simplicity is the key. The greater the simplicity, the less the mingling of self-activity, the purer the operation. It is the Word which speaks, and not herself.
God often makes known His will only in the time of action. Guyon writes this from many years of experience — not from theory. She walked this road. She trusted the zephyr. She acted in simplicity without certainty. And the Word spoke — not before, not after, but in the time of action. The moment held what the preparation could not. 🙏
I love Madame Guyon so much. She is the apple of God's eye. She is an inspiration to me. God often makes known His will only in the time of action. 🙏
The Gentle Zephyr
Not the whirlwind that shakes the earth. The gentle breath — quiet, almost imperceptible. Elijah on Mount Horeb. The still, small voice. The soul ready for the slightest breath will hear what the soul waiting for the spectacular will miss.
In the Time of Action
God makes known His will in the moment — not before, not after. By the hour and by the moment. The soul free and unencumbered, ready for the breath when it comes. Do not expect anticipated movements. Expect the zephyr in the hour of need.
Abandonment into Trust
Faith is not certainty. Faith is the willingness to walk without certainty — to risk being wrong — because the One we walk with is trustworthy. Walking in abandonment is harder. You leave the infallibility of your own reason behind. Far from infallible. Close to God.
Guyon's fourteenth day. And today she completes what she began on day one — the full architecture of the interior life, now crowned with its operating principle: walk in abandonment and uncertainty, trust the zephyr, act in simplicity, and expect the Word to speak in the time of action.
Day one — the religion of the heart: Enter the closet. Retire within the heart. Speak few words. Receive the Holy Spirit. Today those four instructions bear their final fruit. The soul that has practiced them faithfully becomes the simple instrument Guyon describes — the one the Word moves, the one the zephyr reaches. The discipline formed the interior. The interior receives the breath.
Day two — walk by faith, not by sight: And today Guyon adds: not by certainty either. The walk of faith operates where certainty cannot reach. The Eymet market — eyes on Jesus, surrounded by distractions — was an exercise in exactly this. The understanding came in the walking, not before it. God made His will known in the time of action.
Day eight — My sheep hear My voice: "The only true and safe revelation is the internal revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ in the soul." And today: the breath of the Lord in the pure soul is the gentle zephyr. The same voice. The same interior. The same sheep who know the sound. The voice does not arrive as a whirlwind. It arrives as a breath — and the soul that has been listening for years recognizes it instantly.
Tim Keller and Calvin from Olhão — the Holy Spirit as timekeeper: Calvin said set apart certain hours. Le said: on the road, I trust the Holy Spirit to inspire me as I go. And Guyon today: this method of divine leading — by the hour and by the moment — leaves the soul always free and unencumbered. The same truth, three voices: the Spirit keeps the hours. The Spirit chooses the moments. The soul stays free and ready.
Le's observation — far from infallible: "Some pastors preach that we are already infallible. Far from it." This is Guyon's warning applied to the modern Church. The desire for infallibility — for a direct, unchallengeable word from God on every matter — is not faith. It is the avoidance of the humble uncertainty that genuine faith requires. Guyon walked with God for decades and said plainly: there is not, at all times, a positive certainty. The pastor who claims otherwise has not gone deeper. He has gone sideways — into the comfortable certainty that replaces trust.
Mont Saint-Michel on the horizon: Built on rock, surrounded by tides that come and go on no human schedule. The monks who built it did not know when the tide would turn. They built anyway. They trusted the rock — and the tides obeyed their Maker, not the builders. God makes known His will in the time of action. The tide comes when the tide comes. The zephyr blows when the zephyr blows. And the soul that is ready — free, unencumbered, simple — receives it. 🙏