Have You Lost Your Way?

OK, admit it.  At least once in your life, you thought you knew where you were going and you were mistaken.  Maybe you turned right when you meant to turn left? Perhaps you thought you were headed east when you were actually driving south?  Possibly you were thinking about something else and missed a sign?  Life is like that, isn’t it?  Maybe you’ve heard that college freshman announce to the world that she’ll finish school, get married, head to med school to become a cardiologist, then have 3 kids, make tons of money, save lives and retire rich.  Yeah, how did that work out?  The directions we think we’re headed – the life maps we’ve drawn in our minds – never seem to work out as we expect.  But that’s not all bad.  Just think of the adventures you’ve had when you ended up in an unexpected place.  Consider that where you are now wouldn’t have been possible if you had stuck to your original plan!

Sometimes, we who follow Christ find ourselves believing we have been appointed for a specific purpose.  We believe God has “called” us to a certain task or direction.  If that is true, how do we know?  How can we be certain we are following “God’s will” for our lives?  Can we be absolutely sure we are on the right path?  I would agree that if you walk as closely to the Father as Jesus did, then you’ll always know which turn to make and what direction to head.  But I’m not there, are you?

In fact, my life has been more like that of the apostle, Paul.  Just when he thought he had God’s plan all figured out, he discovered that perhaps God had a different direction in mind:

Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. ⁷ Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. ⁸ So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas.  ⁹ That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” ¹⁰ So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there.   Acts 16:6-10

The great apostle to the Gentiles, called by Jesus himself on the road to Damascus, thought he was headed in one direction to serve his Lord, yet the door closed.  OK, maybe God’s leading me to Bithynia?  Nope, not there either.  Alright, then, which doors are still open?  I guess God is directing me to Macedonia.  Right!

God has a plan for sure.  And you, if you are a follower of Jesus, have a part in that plan.  But the plan isn’t built around you, it’s built around Him.  Your job isn’t to sit around wondering which way to go, it’s to figure out which way God is going and get with the program! 

Do you imagine you’ve made a wrong turn and now God can’t use you?  Wrong.  Find the path and get back on it!  You failed in your last effort for your Lord and now you think He’s done using you?  Wrong, again.  Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the fight!  While God cares intimately for you and cares about your successes and failures, He cares MOST that His will is done “on Earth as it is in heaven”.  If you’ve lost your way, look for the signs of God’s activity in your life – they are all around you.  He’s busy, whether you’ve noticed or not.  He still has a job for you to do, whether you’re willing or not.  But if you don’t do it, someone else will, because He always has a contingency plan.

If you get lost in the woods, it’s good advice to sit down and wait for someone to find you rather than wandering around the forest.  But if you aren’t sure which way to go in your efforts for Jesus, just sitting around waiting for the Spirit to hunt you down and extend a personal invitation for you to participate isn’t the way it works!  When God called you to be His, He gifted you so you could play a part in what He’s doing to redeem the world.  So get up and pay attention; look around and see what God is doing; and plug in.  Maybe the problem isn’t that you’ve lost your direction, but just your motivation.  For Paul, when one door was closed, he tried another.  Eventually, he found the door God intended.  If you aren’t already, start tugging on some doorknobs.  I guarantee at least ONE of them will open.

Jacob