15 - Trusting God in the Unknown

Every year seems like to fly by faster than the year before. I remember when my boys were babies every day seemed incredibly long and it seemed so hard, no it didn’t seem hard, it was hard. Every one would always tell me how fast it all goes but it mostly felt like just trying to survive. Now every time I look at my boys I wonder how they got so big, 9 and 6, and yet trying to drink in and hold them in the space they are in, because soon these will be the days that I will say, “oh they were so little”. I wish I could freeze them in time, but they remind me they have to grow up, I know. There have been a lot of really hard seasons in my life, but what I have come to realize that there is always the challenge facing all of us that asks, “will I trust God now in this”? I am not sure why we keep wondering why things seem so weird, so hard to understand, so different to everyone else we are trying not to compare our lives to. But I think this is the life of following God. What kind of life are we are living if we always understand how everything will turn out, if we are always sure of what is going to happen next, if we are the ones who we need and don’t stay absolutely dependent on our true source, God? Let me let you in on a little secret, none of us have this figured out, we all struggle, we are all army crawling our way through this, groping our way in the dark. But here is another thing, we have this choice. A choice that says, “ I am going to take the path of least resistance, I am going to micro manage my life because if I don’t who will, I am going to strive, work harder, run from my wounds and avoid all conflicts in order to try to keep myself safe.” OR we can say “I am all in Lord. Whatever you say I will do, no matter how scary and irrational your way seems.” The bottom line is this, if we choose to follow the Lord and walk by faith our life will never feel “normal” whatever that is. We can just get comfortable with being uncomfortable until the only thing that seems to remain that our constant source of comfort is the one who was always there, Jesus. Just look at the Bible and all the many stories showing us what life is meant to look like for the people of God. Not perfect, not without hardship, not without feeling like Jesus sometimes is late or never comes at all, not without disappointments or confusion and certainly not without having to sometimes look like just a plain foo. Noah built a boat before there was rain, Joshua led people to march around walls and shout to conquer a city, Jesus himself was born to an unwed mother, raised a carpenter and the man that came to bring salvation to all mankind was hanging out with fishermen and prostitutes. If your life feels unconventional, welcome to the club, you are one of us, we love you and let’s talk how weird and wonderful it is to not fit in. God’s Word says that His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path in Psalm 119:5. There are so many times I wish it said His Word was a spot light down the path and around the corner but it doesn’t. God knows our proclivity to want to run ahead, to rely on ourselves and get into all kinds of trouble He is trying to get us to avoid. When we are surrounded by the dark, our steps are much more careful. We do not know what is coming and this makes us dependent on our source of light to make our next step sure, one moment at a time. As we start to step into this new year, this new century we don’t know what it has for us, what trials, what joys, what learning or stretching opportunities are coming our way, but the one who loves us does. The one who called us from the beginning, the one who thought us up before we were, the one who chose to die for us with no guarantee we would ever choose Him back, this great lover of our souls knows what is ahead and He will help us through, one step at a time. We can trust Him. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/called-to-build/donations