My phone alerted me to a new text message. My former neighbor wanted a partner to go to old town and take a look at a table and chairs for her new neighbors who had moved in with two small children and only a full size bed for furniture. I texted back and told her to come on over and pick me up.
We stopped at a used furniture store on the way to see the table and chairs. Keeping an eye on the kids we wandered the store and commented on the furniture, but everything was over the budget. Hopping back in the van my friend followed the voice of the GPS to the address with the table and chairs. This was the older section of town and the kids were afraid to get out of the van. My friends oldest son bolstered everyones courage with a prayer for safety and everyone got out and walked up to the old Victorian style home that had been remodeled into several apartments. We rang the door bell, but no one answered. My former neighbor pulled out her phone and called the number, we could hear the phone ringing in the apartment, but no one answered the phone. With obvious relief the kids were glad to get back to the van.
We decided our next stop should be The Salvation Army thrift store. My friend navigated through the narrow one way streets back to the main street through town. In the ten to fifteen minutes since we had stopped at a stoplight down town, the electricity had gone down, no doubt due to the above average temperatures, and now two police officers were directing traffic. Each stop light we drove through a neon yellow vested police officer directed traffic to stop and go. After much stopping and going through the heavier than usual traffic we arrived at the thrift store, only to discover it was closed due the electricity outage.
As my friend drove through traffic and the intersections directed by the police officers she followed their directions, she didn’t try to look ahead and follow the directions from the police officer at the next stop light. No, she followed the directions for where she was at in that moment. God has a plan for our life and He gives us directions for each moment. We are not to look back, or try to see what we should do in the future, we need to follow His directions at that very moment. Chaos would have erupted and no doubt people would have been hurt if my friend had decided to not follow the directions of the neon yellow vested police officer at each intersection. Just like my friend waited for the officer to clear the intersection before she moved forward, God will also wait until just the right moment to clear the path before us. I highly doubt, for example, that God bothered practicing to open the Red Sea before Moses and the Israelites needed it. But, just at the right time they needed to cross the sea, God provided the power to do it. We need to trust God to direct us in the paths He has planned for us to go.
We need to trust God’s love for us and use the faith He has given us to go in the direction He has planned for us. We can’t see the end results of our choices like God can. He wants us to open our hearts and minds to the beauty that could be. The beauty that we can’t seem to see because we are seeing through our own realty rather than His.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:7
In Your unfailing love, You will lead the people you have redeemed. In Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling. Exodus 15:13