Sometimes our journey with God feels completely right.
I mean things can be difficult and falling out of place but still you know that your path is sure and chosen by God.
Other times we look around and wonder where in the world we took the trap door to nowhere.
We find ourselves in a place completely unfamiliar and strange. No real entrance or exit. We are just there.
Our first thought or reaction is to go back and trace every thought~ every decision that must have landed us here.
Welcome to our world of late.
Here we sit.
We couldn't have predicted our path. In some ways we couldn't have even chosen it. It seems very much that it was chosen for us. Yet, humanly speaking, it feels as foreign as another country.
Learning to follow God is a humbling experience.
I am not so sure that our purpose here is to serve and love the Lord in the midst of many, many questions.
He has used the process of elimination in our lives to place us exactly where we are.
Closing doors until only one remains.
It has taken me almost a week to figure out that we would not have come to this place any other way.
I have thought about my heroes of the faith and how they must have felt when God used this exact method in their lives.
Moses stood in front of the Red Sea.
He had just led millions of Israelites out of captivity. Chosen by God to be the man. Now the Egyptian army was closing in fast.
Moses found himself out of options...save one.
(that whole process of elimination thing)
A sea.
Can you just place yourself at the scene?
Women and children crying. Men shouting. The stench of ocean air, animals, sweat and adrenaline hanging in the air. A sea of water in front of you and a sea of desperate people behind you. Looking to you. Waiting.
To make matters worse an angry army is closing in. You can hear the chariots in the distance. The Pharaoh has shaken off his grief temporarily and wants his slaves back.
God says to Moses, "Use your shepherd's staff- hold it out over the water, and a path will open up before you through the sea. Then all the people of Israel will walk through on dry ground." (Ex. 14:16)
For a brief moment...I wonder if Moses felt like a failure?
Each endeavor required faith.
Hearing the voice of God in a burning bush~
Answering the call to go to Egypt~
Making demands before the Pharaoh~
Enduring 10 heartbreaking plagues~
He had been obedient to the Lord.
He had led the Israelites out of slavery.
Whew. He could breathe easy now.
Surely the rest of this would be a piece of cake, right?!?
God would lead them to safety and comfort.
No more BIG faith leaps...
I wonder if his thoughts wavered like my own.
He had led these people out of slavery and now they faced certain death. Unless.....
Unless he raised his staff.
Unless God came though.
Unless God performed some miracle and created a dry path through water....can that even happen??
Moses (a man...flesh and blood) probably stood there thinking I am about to raise this staff.
And look stupid.
But he did it anyway.
There was no other choice.
Foolish or not he either trusted God or he didn't.
I could take time and discuss other heroes of mine. Daniel. Esther. Elijah. Paul. Abraham. Joseph.
They found themselves in curious situations. Chosen for them.
God eliminated easy outcomes and left them all with one scary one.
Each one had to demonstrate a faith that felt like utter failure. Beyond feeling like failure it even looked like failure.
And yet...God had placed them there.
I have been following Jesus for quite some time. My husband and I know better than to make any decision without praying about it first.
Even with prayerful decisions and leaps of faith...it can still feel like failure.
On purpose.
The only option left is trust.
God's way or no way.
Raise the staff in faith (just as Moses did) and wait.
With heart pounding and shortness of breath...your eyes dart across the water looking for something you have never seen.
And just when you think that is impossible....a path opens.
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