On our road to growing in maturity, I’ve found that one of the things that hinders our growth is our sight. We hear great things that our God promises for us but they often don’t look like what we think it should look like. Our expectations of what should happen can cause us to grow bitter and angry sometimes. Even when the visions God gives us are so grand and seemingly difficult, we tend to shy away because of the lenses we possess.
On Sunday, I shared about how we tend to take the road of least resistance when journeying with the Lord because our thoughts and expectations of what it is and what it should be don’t look promising. When God gives us directions, we tend to filter them through our sight rather than our faith (2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV “For we live by faith, not by sight.”). But I believe God is calling us to obey His directions, no matter how big or small, easy or difficult, we need to remember our theme of Making Every Effort…
At Lifespring, we have been blessed with the ability to hear God’s Voice using the tools of Listening Prayer. Listening and Obeying are simple instructions but can be rather complicated in executing. On my walks around my neighborhood, God showed me some parallels between Google Maps and His Directions to Us:
Google Maps:
Directions – Mostly flat
Head south, Turn left, Turn left, slight right
Use Caution: Walking directions may not always reflect real-world conditions
God:
Directions – Mostly Flat
God looks at the entirety of your journey, rather than focusing on the temporary ups and down. (The dot of your present vs. the line of your eternity)
Head south, Turn left, Turn left, slight right
Sometimes the directions are really basic, sometimes they are really complicated. We need to learn how to follow directions moment to moment, turn to turn so that we can go to the places God wants to lead us too.
Use Caution: Walking directions may not always reflect real-world conditions
God’s directions may not always reflect real-world conditions. Sometimes the directions you receive don’t reflect your current real-world conditions causing you to doubt and take a different path altogether. We need to remember all the things that God told us at the beginning of the journey so that when we walk the path we are not deterred by what we see.
Remember, God’s directions may not always reflect real-world conditions but they do produce real-world results.