Risky Business

If you know me, you know I've pursued many things in my decade of 'thinking' years (16-26).  Sometimes I've gone a certain direction all out, twice - and then abandoned it yet again.  I'm convinced I did this because I was searching for direction and purpose on my own.  I followed the path of least resistance, and greatest enjoyment.  I discovered though, too often, these aren't the same thing.

God is in a risky business of leading people somewhere without showing them where he's going.  When I call this risky business, I mean to say it's risky for us, or at least it seems so at the time.  Certainly God knows where he's heading, but part of faith in him is following even when we don't where that destination is.

If you've tried this, you know the thrill, and the fear that it brings.  The tingle down your spine, the cold sweats, and the undeniable sense of rightness about it.  This is ironic, since if you're truly following, only the purpose of following is utterly certain.  But I believe that is precisely what God is after.

I believe he is delighted to keep the journey and destination a mystery.  We have our own plans, certainly.  We plan on going to college; it seemed wise at the time.  We plan on learning to play the piano, we enjoy it.  We plan on having children, since we like the idea of a busy home - even though we have never been a parent before.  Often we don't know how we'll reach that goal; this is the hidden truth of a new experience: planning only goes so far.  Still, through all our planning, God is continually moving, directing the steps that we take.

Proverbs 16:9 is the scripture for this, along with others (19:21, 16:1, Psalm 33:11) but confirmation comes in our experience.  Free-will thinker though I am, I can't deny the direction of my steps over the years, directing me toward goals I may have had in mind - but more often toward an end I see God had in mind all along.

This teaches us two things, first to depend on God for our direction.  This is enough, but it teaches us an even more valuable lesson: that God himself is the journey and the destination.  When our hearts are dependent on him, we find peace in the midst of situations that seem chaotic and foreign.  When we look to him for understanding and joy and faith, we find it.  Even though Christians can't always see the end of the road, joy is found in knowing God is at the wheel charting a course through our temporal existence that finds its ultimate, eternal destination with him.