"If you don't know where you're going you'll never get there"
We hear it all the time- that without a perfectly laid out plan and a goal, nothing will ever get done.
Despite being well-intentioned, this phrase causes a conflict for those of us who call ourselves Christians. You see, if we walk by faith, there are times where we don't know what we're doing. This doesn't always sit well with our human nature (or our anxiety!). If Paul can claim "Chief of Sinners" I'm the Head of "Plan-everything-out". I thrive on order, schedules, and anticipation of what's next. However, the Kingdom of Heaven just doesn't roll that way.
A major point in Christianity (that we like to ignore) is that our life is not ours to do what we please (1 Corinthians 6:20). In fact, our life is so abandoned to the point of becoming a sacrifice (Romans 1). That being said, there are just times when our plans get trumped by something so so much bigger- the will of God.
So how do we plan our future when we're met with a God whose plans are so much bigger than we could ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20)? We obey right where we're at, we do the things that Glorify God at the moment that we are in, and we wait. We trust even when it doesn't seem to make sense- that's a part of having faith.
The best plans for our life will always be the one that we didn't write.
The problem for us often comes when we know that we're called to go, and we just aren't sure where to. Don't buy into the lie that you have to have it all figured out to follow God's plan for your life. When God called Abraham to pack up his family and leave all that he had ever known, God simply said: "Go" (Geniuses 12:1). God didn't say how far. God didn't tell Abraham to take a left or a right. God said, "Go". There are times in our own lives when we may not know if we should take a left or a right if we should do one thing over another; but if we read scripture and we know what pleases God, we can know that we're walking in His paths.
As an anxious hearted Christian, I often worry about always making the right decisions. Whenever I come to a fork in the road, I spend a ridiculous amount of time stressing between This Way and That Way. Thankfully, Jesus made that choice easy. He says "I am the Way" in John 14:16. In a time in my life where everything seems to be piled with choices, decisions, and deadlines, I am able to rest in that as long as I choose Jesus, I can't go wrong.
While it is easy to paint God's will as this mystic, impossible concept that we can never quite grasp, I'd like to believe that things are much more simple than that. In fact, the Bible in 1 Corinthians 14 tells us that our God is not about confusion, but about peace. We have peace when we are doing the things that the Lord asks us to do. We know what it is that He asks of us when we read His words to us. We may not have any clue what tomorrow holds, or if one option will make us happier than the other, or what it is that God will ask of us 25 years down the road. That's ok. God doesn't need us to know everything- in Acts 1:7 we are told by Jesus that "it is NOT for [us] to know the times or seasons that God has fixed". It is our job to serve God where we are at.
God doesn't need us to be all-knowing-- He's already got that one under control on His own.
He only asks that we trust and obey Him right where we are. Keep reading scripture, and obey what the Lord asks of you.
