Vision

“To a man on a mountain road by night, a glimpse of the next 3 feet of road may matter more than a vision of the horizon” CS Lewis
We all know that in the Bible it says that God has a plan for us (check it out in Jeremiah 29 if you don’t believe me). It is something we get told over and over again – “God has a plan for you, things will work out.” And when everything is going just fine it is easy to believe. When our faith isn’t being tested we have no issued with trusting God when He says he has a plan for our lives. We can trust that He knows best.
But then comes a period of silence. A time when we don’t seem to be hearing from God. A time when we can’t discern what his big plan for our lives is. A period where things don’t make sense, when we can’t see the big picture. And here is the thing. God never promises to tell us every last detail of his plans for us before they occur. He simply asks us to trust that He does indeed have plans. (And not just any old plans, but plans “for good and not disaster, to give you a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
And it can be easy to look around our Christian friends and think they all have it sussed. To think they all know exactly what God’s plan is for each step of their life. But very rarely have I come across anyone with that sort of clarity of purpose. Indeed, when you look at the book of Psalms, it is clear time and time again as the writers cry out to God that while they trust He has a plan, they don’t feel like they are in on it, they feel like the situation they are in isn’t going well for them. Maybe the most important thing for us to realise is that we don’t need to know our final destination, just our next step.
Our walk with God is all about taking it one step at a time. As long as we can see that little bit of path just ahead of us and can be sure we are still on the ‘straight and narrow’ path that is all we need to know. Sometimes we may pass ‘spiritual sign posts’ that tell us where we are headed. Sometimes we may be going along a long section of path where there are no signs. But as long as we are on the path of following Christ we can be sure that we will eventually reach our destination, regardless of whether or not we know what/where the earthly aspect of that destination is.
If today it seems to you like God is not answering your prayers for guidance about your future, I urge you to hang in there. There have been many times when I have been desperate to know how things would pan out – for example when I was waiting to see how my exams to get into university would go I was longing for God to show me what the next stage of my life would involve. But while He may not answer us with the speed we want, I have always found that when you leave things in His hands and just follow along the path with the small glimpse you have of your next few steps eventually you will end up exactly where He wants you.