By Mark Maher
You are not God; that’s His job. Our pride often wants us to be God-like. I want to tell God how my life is going to go, but His will supersede my expectations, because I know His heart. “You don’t make life, life makes you.” Tim Keller
“And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)
You don’t always get to choose your path, sometimes the path chooses you. The calling finds you. You may have been just minding your own business when life took a new trajectory. You’ll now have to get used to the new terrain. “Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.” (Psalm 77:19)
God is with us through it all. Quench the pride and let God take over. “Do not quench the Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) This chosen path is spirit led, so the world’s path must get overgrown with neglect.
Has God led you down certain roads, even if it was a detour? Sometimes we have no option, but to choose the path God has put in front of us. I guess the revelation is that we have to give God our best with whatever path we’re on. Just keep walking in faith. “Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.” Phil McGraw
The obstacle becomes the way. “Go stand at the crossroads and look around. Ask for directions to the old road, the tried-and-true road. Then take it. Discover the right route for your soul.” (Jeremiah 6:16-17) God’s working on it. We want to control it, but God may want to do some thing that is beyond our understanding. We must release it, because we don’t control it. We control our response, our joy, our choices, our peace, and our love.
Walk on the path God is calling you on. “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.” (Isaiah 30:21) Plan little, reflect little. Stay light and available. God said leave everything and come follow me. Yet they were reluctant, but this is His promise, “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.” (Matthew 19:29)
So we are called to diminish the worldly and the internal expectations of our life. Not easy, the challenges will be ever present, yet this is His Word. So I reflect on how beautiful it is to be alive and that “God‘s will” must be my will. The goal in this journey is to connect the two.
I’m never choosing to leave my family, but I may need to be prepared to let them go at times and trust that God‘s got them. They’re all born for their own purpose. God has a plan for each of them. They must walk on their own path. I may not like it, failure might be part of it, but God will redeem it and use it, I just have to be strong enough to handle it. It’s their journey. It’s my journey. At times, we don’t choose the path, the path chooses us. Ryan Holiday wrote a great book called, “The obstacle is the way.”
We don’t choose it, but the obstacle is your way. You must learn how to navigate it. To walk through it. To find yourself on the other side by God’s grace. Don’t fear it. Allow God to redeem it. The obstacle is the way. The biggest obstacle you’ll have to overcome is your willingness to embrace it. This is where you’ll find power. We can’t run from it. Don’t choose to hide from it. You fight. “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” Martin Luther King Jr.
Ephesians 2:10 which states, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Do you believe that your path has been predetermined? I want to think that my choice or my will is involved, but I also know God is sovereign. (Isaiah 46:9-11) He is God, I am not. Has my path been prepared beforehand? I guess I’ll never know on this side of heaven. Choose to refuse to get too bogged down by the “why’s” of life. I don’t know “why.”
I say just keep stacking good days and see where God takes you. I think we’re fearful of taking the wrong path and being isolated but God‘s walking with us hand in hand so you’re never alone. The path chooses you in that the “person you are” attracts certain opportunities. These God opportunities lead you down productive and fruitful paths to be used for God’s glory. Lay down the “whys” and choose to attack each day with strong faith, an overcoming spirit, relentless consistency, and the most love you can muster. All you need is the essential, the simple, to navigate this path. The Holy Spirit is your guide.
