Jeremiah 29: 11 - 13 NKJV
A few friends of mine often give me grief for my phone GPS lack of reliable directions. I admit that there have been a few times where my getting lost has been due to operator error and not a computer glitch. It seems that following directions has become more about watching a computer screen than listening to someone else explain to us just how to navigate to our location. Yes, even I have ended up driving into wrong neighborhoods because I refused to listen to directions. We've all been there whether we care to admit it or not. When I think back, whenever I have lost my way and ended up in a unfamiliar area I more often than not found myself becoming agitated and nervous. I mean, who relishes getting lost in a area they aren't familiar with? True, there are those who treat these situations as a opportunity to explore another part of the city. Yeah, but that's not me. There are those who rely on every direction given by whatever GPS system they happen to be using while seemingly ignoring other obvious signs all around them that might point to a wrong route. I've definately been down that road before. We have become so used to simply punching a address into a device and trusting one hundred percent that it will lead us to where we're going. So, why is it that we would treat God any differently? After all, doesn't He tell us through the prophet Jeremiah that His thoughts for us are for good and never for evil intent {Jeremiah 29:11}? Does He not promise to lead us in our journey {Proverbs 16:9}? Our heavely Fathers GPS for us is pretty simple, we plan our journey, relate it to Him and He ultimately leads us to our destination through His guidance. Yeah, that's how it's supposed to work. In our own hearts we may plan our journey but it is the Lord who determines our steps {Proverbs 16:9}. Yeah, that sounds good...but. What happens when we reach a destination we're uncomfortable with? What happens when we come across a wrong neighborhood? Are we anxious, nervous or apprehensive despite having followed where the Lord has led us? There have been times in my own life where I have questioned God directly as to why He would lead me to what seemed to be at the time a wrong neighborhood. Can God be trusted to lead us to where we want to go? No, but I can always trust in Him to lead me to where it is HE wants me to be.
"Everyone has a plan...until they get punched in the mouth"
Mike Tyson
I like to think of that quote from "Iron Mike" Tyson from time to time when I feel like God has somehow forgotten His promise to me and has led me somewhere I'm not supposed to be. I mean, didn't I have a plan on how to get where I was going? Didn't I tell God my plan and trust that He would guide me to MY destination? What's with that, God? I'll tell you, I made my plans but it was God who determined my steps. My plan was going along just fine...until I got punched in the face. Like losing my way and driving into a wrong neighborhood, following God lead into where it is He wants me to be can sometimes bring me into unfamiliar areas and situations in my life. Does that mean that God has somehow forsaken me? No, it just means that the journey He's chosen for me has brought me to somewhere I wasn't expecting. Now, don't get me wrong, God never does anything haphazardly, so even though I come to those places in my journey that I'm unfamiliar with it's all according to His plan. While our own GPS may be seprate from us, our heavenly Father is right there with us every step of the way {Galations 2:20}. He lives through us. Our daily thoughts and experiences are His as well. So, we can feel comfortable asking Him to guide us where it is we want to go. All God is saying is, "Hey...we got this." Whatever bumps in the road we may come across on our journey, it is Christ Jesus who is traveling that road with us every step of the way. When we come to a unfamiliar neighborhood, we're not at all alone. We do well to trust in Christ who is in us to guide us in whatever it is we do. We walk every step as Christ who is in us.
25“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?26“Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27“Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29“and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not larrayed like one of these. 30“Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32“For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
~Scott~
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