“EVERY PROMISE OF GOD PROVES TRUE; He protects everyone who runs to him for help. So don’t second-guess him.” – Proverbs 30: 5-6, The Message
God knows what He is doing. The truth is that He has been doing it for years. He is quite seasoned, an expert in his field.
Doubt is a form of fear. We all have it; it is normal to doubt ourselves, our situations, others around us, and sometimes, even God. This doubt is so hard to recognize God entirely, but we also may not trust him entirely. [Ouch!]
We reach a point in our spiritual maturity, our faith walk, where we realize that we are old enough to know better! In his letters, Paul often spoke of babes in the faith and reassures the new Christians in the churches that trust takes time to build.
Relationships grow when we invest time and energy into them. The same is true in our faith. We grow to know God more as we spend more time together. You don’t become BFFs with someone by meeting them once and seeing them several times a year. That’s not how friendships work, not healthy ones at least.
Our God is a god that can be trusted. Fully. Wholly. Completely. He has only our best interests at heart. When I was less-mature in my faith, I assumed that God’s plan were boring. How could they possibly be exciting? I equated God with constraining rules and limited pleasures in life, which I just knew had to provide a very mundane and eventless existence. Now that I am older [and know better!], I have learned that those rules were simply boundaries to protect me and guide me to the path He had laid out for me. What looked like exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities along the way were really facades planted to draw me into danger. [Note: Danger not planted by God, rather by the enemy to tempt me into sinful activities and lifestyles.] Like when you see a really cute outfit in a store window that you admire. Then as you think about it later, you start planning how cute you will be in that outfit, the places you will go, the compliments that you will get. Your mind is consumed with coveting thoughts of this outfit, and you just don’t see how you can possibly go on another day without this outfit. So you go to the store, go inside and put this outfit on and realize it’s not well made, it’s not flattering, and the price tag is outrageous. All your dreams suddenly vanish, and you are left feeling empty as though someone stole your grand plans for glamour. You go home and look disappointedly at your closet and can’t fathom looking cute in anything you see. Void, empty, disappointed, feeling less than. Facades planted by the enemy are just like the cute outfit. They catch our eye and plant a seed in our minds that quickly consumes our thoughts and deters us from our paths.
God will never leave a facade for us to follow alone. That’s how you tell the difference.
God tells us that he will never leave us or forsake us. He will guide us along when we need to make a turn or take a different route.
In my experience, the blessing comes after I have journeyed on the new path with God. In other words, I cannot usually see the blessing from the road. God can, but it is not visible to me. I find it when I trust in Him to guide me along the way, and when we get to the blessing, I’m on a clear path, not busy with others, but my own personal road. I can truly enjoy and relish my blessing b/c its just me and God. Fewer distractions. More joy! If you can see it from the road, make that your clue to stop and ask God for guidance. Second-guess the facade, the situation, not God. He will let you know if you’re on the right track. He will either leave you there or He will move you. That’s how you will know!
Once I made it through the wilderness, I could see the beginning of the path that God had for me. Just for me! My only personalized, tailored to my likes, suited for my gifts, path carved out by the creator of the universe just for me! When I was moving forward, I knew I was in some danger zones and some rough areas, but I never realized how much of a wilderness I was in until I made it out to the other side. Once I was able to look back and see the forest, I knew that I would have never made it out without God’s guidance.
elizabeth gwin 