As a pastor, I have people who come to me hoping I can tell them what God wants them to do with their life. And I can tell you in all honesty, I have never had an answer for them. My normal response is that they really need to seek and hear God for themselves.
Wouldn’t it be nice if God would give us a detailed map or step by step instructions of where we need to go and what we need to do? Unfortunately, this isn’t how God works. Instead, what He gives us is more like a compass with a general heading and, as we begin to step out in faith, He gently guides us and makes corrections along the way.
The key, though, is that we’re moving. We serve a God of movement. The question is: Are we moving with Him? I’ve heard it said that you can’t steer a parked car. You can turn the steering wheel all you want, but it isn’t going anywhere if the wheels aren’t rolling. So sometimes we just have to get our tires rolling so God can guide us to where He wants us to go.
We see a great example of this in Acts 14:6-10. Take a look at these verses: “Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
Here we see Paul and his team try to go several different places and the Lord redirects them. The key is that they were moving. They were going until God said stop but when He stopped them from going one direction, they didn’t stop moving. They just changed the direction of their movement until they received clear direction from the Lord.
Some might look at these scriptures and say they were heading in the wrong direction. But I actually think if they hadn’t been on the move to begin with, they might not have ever made it to Macedonia.
I have had situations in my life where I have stepped out thinking God was calling me in one direction, only to find out it was just a catalyst to get me to where He actually wanted me in the first place. And the funny, or maybe even sad, thing is…I probably wouldn’t have ever gone that direction had I known where I was going to end up.
Sometimes things seem too challenging or scary at the start, but God uses the journey along the way to prepare us for the destination. This is one of the amazing things I’ve discovered when it comes to following Jesus: the journey is as important as the destination. So, let’s keep moving!
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