Skip to main content

for when you can't see the path

"The LORD had said to Abram, 'Leave your country, your people, and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.'"
Genesis 12:1

I'm somebody who always wants to be able to see the path ahead of me. In fact, my prayers for years have included the plea for God to show me His plan for my life--something in the form of a roadmap, with "time of travel" and "duration of stop" clearly marked would be nice.

If I could just know where I'm headed, where I'm going to end up, it would be so much easier to make the journey.

But what about when God doesn't tell me where I'm headed? What happens when He tells me to go and follows that up with, "I'll let you know when you get there"? What happens when God tells me to leave everything I know, but He doesn't tell me what I'm going to find when I get there?

There's a quote by E.L. Doctorow that says, "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." Lots of people say our lives are stories, so I guess it's not too big of a leap to make to say that applies pretty well to life, too.

Instead of headlights, though, we have a lamp:
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path."
Psalm 119:105

I can't see the road ahead.
I don't know what God has in store for my life--and looking at what all has happened so far and all the twists and turns that have been in the road, I imagine I would run away if I did know.

But I have God's promise to guide me:
"He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way."
Psalm 25:9

And I have His promise to hold me up:
"If the LORD delights in a man's way, He makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with His hand."
Psalm 37:24

And you know what?
I think maybe I can make the whole trip that way!



***
Sometimes, it's nice to be assured that when God makes a promise He has the power to see it through. I've written a short study (just 5 days a week for 4 weeks) on God's power that's available on Amazon or CreateSpace.

If you are a Kindle person, that edition will be free on Wednesday and Thursday.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

a little bit of physics (don't be scared!)

"by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." hebrews 11:3 this is one of my favorite verses--i call it my physics verse because to me it is tying together my faith and subatomic particles. no, really--i mean it! when i first started working on a degree in physics and a minor in biology, somebody (i don't remember who anymore, but it seems like it was somebody on some kind of discussion board...) told me that i would forget about all that dumb "christianity" (<--spell checker doesn't like that. hmm...) stuff. once i had been educated, i would see that faith was superstition and a pointless waste of time, something for the ignorant, uneducated masses.  while i'm sure that is the conclusion some people come to, it sure wasn't for me.                          ...

Psalm 19

                    "The celestial realms announce God’s glory;      the skies testify of His hands’ great work. Each day pours out more of their sayings;      each night, more to hear and more to learn. Inaudible words are their manner of speech,      and silence, their means to convey. Yet from here to the ends of the earth, their voices have gone out;      the whole world can hear what they say." (Psalm 19:1-4, VOICE)

He is God...and I'm not

There's a song that's been around for a while, but there's a specific line in that song that really sticks with me: "Sometimes I gotta stop remember that You're God and I am not."   It's from "Thy Will" by Hillary Scott, released 9 years ago.   I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to want to control everything in my life. I've told my kids many times that our biggest strengths can also be our greatest weaknesses, and this is one of those things for me--my self-reliance. It's a great thing when I need to convince myself to do hard things, but it's not so great when I fall onto my self-reliance as an excuse for not trusting others...and most importantly, not trusting God.   You see, it's easy for me to say that I believe the promises of God are true. I know He promises never to leave. I know He promises that His love is unconditional and eternal. I know He promises that He made plans for me long before time began. I kno...