God Help! Which way should I go?
God Help! Which way should I go?
“His direction may not be a booming thunder or a voice in your ear. It may be a high-risk loan application going through, a referral seemingly out of nowhere or a scholarship award for something you were not qualified for. If these sorts of things are happening, God is creating a path for you. He is providing confirmation that tells you, “This is right!” Isaiah, 30:21 proves this to be true, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,“This is the way; walk in it.”
- Excerpt from, “The Christian Entrepreneur’s Outlook” by V. L. Thompson. Currently on sale at Amazon.com
Which way should I go? This is a question that we all ask in life at one time or another. Even previously experiencing success does not make us immune to feeling uncertain as to what our future steps should be. Your business plan should clearly define goals and timelines, and your financial planner may have a retirement strategy on deck, but what about the overall direction your life is heading? What about who to marry, what school to send my kids to, what to do about my elderly parent? What about the things that life has no roadmap for?
Recognize how God provides confirmation
The verse characterizes God’s direction by his voice. It is one that already knows the way and communicates to you when the time is right. Notice that as you walk, already traveling the path, the voice speaks up when it is time. Notice that wherever you go “whether you turn to the right or the left” that the voice speaks. We might think that because we don’t see a neon sign that says “turn left”, “buy this” or “stop here” that God simply isn’t paying attention. God doesn’t say “This is the way” because He’s determined that’s the way you should go, He is saying “This is the way” because He created that way for you to travel. God is not just the voice behind us saying “go” he is the ground under our feet, the breath in our lungs, the strength in our legs. His direction is always around because He is always in us. The compass of where to go is housed directly in our hearts when connected to Him.
Being connected to him prepares your ears to hear
How many times did your mother have to tell you to clean up your room, take out the trash or mow the lawn before you actually got up and did it? How many times has someone introduced themselves, and told you their name only for you to forget it the very next second? We humans are forgetful creatures. Sometimes we don’t hear because we don’t want to hear, sometimes we hear and forget. Sometimes we hear and doubt, and sometimes we hear and believe. Having a consistent, purposeful relationship with God prepares your ears to be in perfect listening order so that when His voice speaks, you can hear, understand and obey. When following God’s path for our lives, we can’t simply hear what we want to hear and disregard the rest. If “left” is the direction given, yet looks like a dead end, those who have not cultured their relationship with the Lord will turn around. But those who have “ears to hear” will follow the Lord’s guidance regardless of physical appearances knowing that situations aren’t always what they seem to be.
God’s voice is behind you, propelling you forward
God is not a trickster. He will not purposely lead you the wrong way. God does not repay our sins with false hope and unfulfilled promises. He has integrity, and He is honest. Whatever direction that God provides is correct. It is perfect and will accomplish many more blessings than you could ever see. Your journey is not one that you travel alone. In addition to God moving on your behalf, there are countless others that will be affected by your life decisions. This is not meant to cause feelings of guilt or inadequacy, rather to take in the full scope of what God intends to do on this earth. He is using you to produce ripple-effect actions that will ultimately touch the lives of others. That is why an instruction to head in a direction that you didn’t expect might be the exact route needed to, say, bring another to Christ or allow you to double your success through collaboration.
There is no direction you can go where God is not there
God sees you. There is no part of the path laid out for you where God is not working on your behalf. He is still in control even when you feel lost. He is still in control even when things appear not to work. He is still in control when you can barely see a few feet in front of you let alone 10 years down the road. Even the feeling of being lost is an element that God can use to guide you closer to Him, and cause you to reflect. Sometimes He wants us to be vulnerable and sometimes He wants us to experience displeasure. A child who has never experienced hardship will not make it very far as an adult. It is the same good parenting techniques that our Father uses with us by allowing us to experience every part of this journey we call life fully and grow our experience and lessons learned into wisdom.
Being uncertain about which direction to take is a part of being a human being. But recognizing that, without knowing what lies ahead, God’s direction is one that we can trust ends up benefitting us all in the end. He will provide confirmation if we have ears to hear. His voice will always move us forward and provide growth in the Lord. There is absolutely nowhere that we can go where God doesn’t have his hand upon us. He will show us the way, our job is to walk in it.
