Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD ’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. (Proverbs 3:5-6 MSG)
So here I am walking down my life path and according to my map there is a fork in the road ahead where I will be making a decision to go right or left. It’s not that one path is better than the other, but they are quite different paths. I would be comfortable going either direction but I do have a preferred path. My map has been projecting this fork for months and there has been a growing sense of what I call “content anticipation.” The day arrives and when I get to the fork I find that one of the paths has been closed, in fact the path was never actually constructed. The sign read upon further review the construction of this path has been delayed indefinitely. So the fork has simply turned into a slight veering to the side around the closed path.
I want to argue with God about the closed path – “You see God MY MAP says that at this point in my journey there will be a choice to be made about which path to take!” To this complaint God simply steers me to the above verse. “Trust me” God says, “don’t worry about your map rather just listen to me and I will direct you on your journey. You see Scott you don’t have the full picture, but don’t worry I will keep you on the right path. What you need to do is keep listening.”
BUT! But? But. “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go…” Trust – an easy word to say but a hard one to live out. So I guess I have two choices – I can sit down by the side of the road, complain to God, mope, twiddle my thumbs, and wait or I can shrug my shoulders, take a deep breath, and refocus on the path I am on – waiting, listening, and pondering what the future may hold. My choice is to quit relying so much on “my map” and instead lean in a little closer to hear that “still small voice” of God to see what lies ahead.
How do you handle life when it seems you’ve been thrown an unexpected twist? I know that most of these twists and turns are merely a small inconvenience but others are a major shock – the unexpected loss of a loved one, a broken relationship, or the loss of a job. These things can cause real pain, real grief, real emotional issues – we need to acknowledge these feelings and emotions, we need to work through them (with the help of others, if needed). You need to know that it’s also alright to let God know how you feel. He want to know about our hurts and pains, our disappointments and struggles. But when the time is right, after the shock and rawness of our emotions has subsided, we also need to ask God “What’s next? Where is this new path going to take me?” You see there is a promise that can be found in Provers 3:5-6 – “…he’s the one who will keep you on track…” It might not be the track you were expecting but we can trust that God will be with us as we travel down this new road.