The Next Step

I’m a planner.  I like (good) surprises, but I’m a planner.  I like to make calculated decisions.  I like to be sure.

Guess how often I am sure about a decision I make…rarely…especially the important ones.

I feel like many times when God calls me to move, He is leading me down a path that is not well lit.  The next step is usually clear, but often only the next step is clear.  Sometimes all I see behind it is pitch-black darkness.  That scares me.

When I am scared, I grasp for control.  I frantically start planning more.  I try to “regain” control (as if I ever had it) and assuredly navigate my future, basing my moves solely on my own knowledge and strength.  Why I ever feel capable of this is beyond me.  What I need is discernment and faith.  What I need is to ask God not for the whole map, but for the next step.

God is not going to give me the map.  He knows better than to trust me with it.  He knows I can’t handle it – that if I saw the map, saw where He was taking me, I probably wouldn’t go.  I’m not ready for the whole trip.  But He has prepared me for the next step.  And He will continue to prepare me for each next step.  I must continue to follow with each step, trusting not in my strength and wisdom, but in the One who guides my steps.

I love the way the author of Proverbs puts it:

Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.

Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.

-       Proverbs 4.25-26

He doesn’t say, “Look as far into the distance as you can; ponder the path miles ahead of you.”  He says to look “directly forward” and at the “path of your feet.” 

We can only do this when we are sure of our God who goes before us.

“Be strong and courageous, …It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” – Deuteronomy 31.7-8

So as I look to the future, I cannot let the uncertainty paralyze me.  I must take the next step in obedience and trust that God is already there.