"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105
Imagine the last time you drove down a road in the darkest of dark nights. What allowed you to get behind the wheel when you couldn't see in front of you? Ah, headlights, right? But headlights only shine up to about 350 feet in front of you. If you are on a 500 mile road trip, you wouldn't go very far if you only advanced 350 feet on your trip, would you? Absolutely not.
What really happens when you drive at night? Don't you take action in faith, knowing that when you move forward, the lights will continue to lead the way? The lights will always be shining ahead so you can move quickly in the direction of your destination? Right?
The same is true in your very own life. Sometimes we can't see the whole entire picture/road/dream, but when we take courageous action in the direction of our destination, the light will shine in the direction we need to take. I guarantee, you will be much further ahead by taking one step at a time vs. standing still in a fear-based paralysis.
Take a step in faith this week!
4 comments:
Very true - let's not hesitate when God calls us to step forward out of our comfort zones.
~~ Cougar
I know this is long, but it is just what came out of me as I started to post a comment.
Over the past 12-15 months I have gone through quite a few trials and prunings. Unfortunately as I look back, my disobedience in heeding the warnings God had laid before me resulted in these event (s) that I went through. One of the things that I have learned during this period is we cannot walk by just what is in our sight (our view lit by the headlights). Let me share a few things.
As a result of a separation from my wife, I had to quit my job. This was a well paying job with great benefits; however, the reality was that I could not leave my daughter home alone during the hours required by this position and with no viable childcare that left me no other choice. I had a mortgage to pay, food to put on the table, utilities, and all the other daily expenses just like everyone else. The headlights shone on a huge sum of money that I would have to repay the company because I did not fulfill my contract. The headlights shone on every time I turned around I was over qualified for positions I interviewed for. The headlights shone on the divorce papers that where filed and the cost of hiring lawyers and settling distribution of assets. The headlights shone on “you are a failure…your heart is for a marriage ministry and here you are getting divorced for a second time.”
However, one by one these obstacles and mountains have been removed as I went further down the road (things that I could not see as I was going through the situation). The company I worked for waived all the repayment for relocation expenses (nothing that could have been done except by God). I was unemployed for two months and almost to the day that I had run out of funds and was going to have to start living off my savings, God opened the door for a new job…one that had the flexibility I needed for being a single parent.
Don’t get me wrong…I have taken some beatings and got a few bumps and bruises along the way. Maybe even a few battle scars. It has cost me financially and emotionally, but through it all God has turned/is turning the mess I handed Him into a blessing. The tough times and struggles I went through taught me a new level of dependence on Him. Through these times He revealed Himself in ways I could not have ever imagined in my wildest dreams. Even though it is still a work in progress, He is rising up a message through me and it also looks like He may be opening doors for me to minister to people in the area of pre-marital ministry.
I could have at any time been paralyzed by the issues in front of me and in reality sometimes my focus was more on them than on believing God could get me through this. However, I was able to get through this first of all because of God and His mercy. Additionally, He sent Christian friends into my life to encourage me, strengthen me, and much to my dismay at times just to leave me alone so that God could deal with me (you know who you are!). I felt abandoned by these friends at times, but it was then and only then that I had to lean on God to make it through and no one else. It was one of these friends that recently shared Romans 8:28 with me
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (NLT)
God takes an active role in shaping and forming the things that we go through to make us whole in Him and reveal Himself to us. We just need to take our focus off what we can only see in our path lit by the “headlights” and know that He will see us through the journey. He will heal us and restore us. He will not let the things we have gone through go to waste if we will only allow Him to move through these situations!
Great thought, and great comment from Larry.
Larry, I can relate to your story, as mine is much the same. It's interesting how we all talk about "walking by faith", when the sun is shining bright. But when our lives are dark...it sucks. I'm trying to be patient with myself as I question God for the darkness, for the silence of friends, and for the absence of clear direction.
Somehow, you and I will reach a point where we can look back and see clearly. And when we get to that point, hopefully we'll be better and deeper people for the experience.
Tony,
Stay encouraged through all of this…stay faithful and you will make it through this. Proverbs 3:5-6 says
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
The problem is in order for us to hear His still small voice of direction amongst all the storms around us we have to get still, we have to be quiet, and we have to find that place of solitude. Thus He gets us alone and separates us. It is contrary to our human nature and what is often preached to us in the church.
One very important lesson that I learned through all this is that God delivers us through the experience, not out of it. Sure we can pray ourselves out of the situation (off the cross per se), but we will undoubtedly go through it again in some other form or fashion. He delivered Noah through the flood…the Israelites through the desert experience…Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego through the fire…and the list goes on and on. If He has you alone and isolated it is only for a season. I know in my experience, the season was to force me to an end of myself…an end to what can Larry do and the only way He could do that was to let the things around me just fall apart so I could put no dependence on them. Then and only then, in my surrender was He able to start restoring me.
As Isa 61:3 says
“To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
The dark night was not fun and stretched me in many ways. Though I would not want to go through it again, I definitely came out better because of it…stronger in my faith, stronger in my foundation of who God is.
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