Proverbs 16:9  “Man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

But the Lord…

Never had those words rung truer in my life until the moment when my motherhood journey shifted in an unexpected direction.  The word “but” is a powerful conjunction. At the moment it drops into the space of time, it interrupts the flow, negating what existed before it, making the past a memory and the present reality.  That one word stirs confusion forging a new path through an uncharted wilderness type experience.

After leaving their season of bondage, the Israelites followed God’s leading a particular way out of Egypt.  Scripture gives us the privilege of insight into why He made this choice for them in Exodus 13:17 and Exodus 14:1-4 but the Israelites did not so as they stood in the wilderness facing the red sea with pharaoh’s army closing in behind them they expressed fear, despair and hopelessness.  When God takes us from a victory through a valley experience, we too can feel despair and hopelessness are seeming lack of choices leaves.  The valley can get dark in those moments and the path unclear, but the Lord always has a plan even when we are not privy to His insight.

The first response: Stand on the truth

When God interrupts our plan, interrupts our peace with those “but the Lord moments”, the first response is likely similar to the Israelites’, a cry of despair or disappointment.  That is okay, God understands because He knows we don’t understand.  Part of our role is to try to be conscious to not let those winds of change sweep us away, to stand fast by anchoring ourselves in the foundation of His truth.  When our world looks bleak, we are to proclaim the word.  Moses proclaimed boldly to not fear because the Lord would fight for them or in other words take care of them.  This requires a degree of trust, a measure of faith and heart willing to believe.

The foundation of trust

Faith, trust and belief work together in a symbiotic relationship each dependent on the other for optimal results.  We tend to trust until we are given a reason not to either from experience, lack of understanding or disappointment. When we don’t understand something with the information available to us, it is challenging to trust what is happening will work out for our good.  This is where we seek to learn to trust the planner instead of lean into trying to understand in the process. To do this, in these instances, we will need to shift out trust from our own understanding to those seeds of faith implanted within each of is.  Here is where we grow and stretch because our faith calls upon us to believe the trust we place will not fail. Belief comes in part from knowing more about the one to be trusted for a strong foundation. Here’s the great news! There is a written record to tell us about the one. Let this track record or proven results and kept promises serve as your source of trust to believe in and build your faith.

Check His record

In 2 Kings 4:1-7, we see a woman who’s life was changed as she entered widowhood become unable to provide for herself and her son. She trusted the little oil she had to God and became able to provide comfortably for herself and her son.  Joshua 2 tells the story of another woman, living near a wall Jericho, saw the trajectory of her life changing as the Israelites approached the Jordan River decided to  trust God’s men by saving their lives and thus saving herself and her family.  She then went on to become part of the bloodline leading to Jesus.  Another woman made her faith in Jesus evident with her relentless communication to him resulting in her child being healed (Matthew 15:21-28).  In Mark 5:25-29, we see a woman crawling through a crowd of people with so much faith in Jesus that she reached out with the mere objective of touching the hem of his garment. With that small, simple touch, she was healed. Scripture goes on to lay out the works of God through Jesus and men to show Himself trustworthy and deserving out faith. Despite, the situations of these women be it widowhood, unplanned danger in the land or illness for self or a child, God showed Himself to be trustworthy as a redeemer, a sustainer and a healer.  Pro 3:5-6 “trust in the Lord with all your heart and all your ways to lean not to your own understanding”.  Remember the times when He has made a way for you, redeemed your situation or produced healing in your own life as a way to keep the truth of who He is alive and personal for you.  We cannot control the unexpected paths our lives take, but we can control our response. 

The next response: Take the next step

Once Moses spoke up about the God we serve, God said to use what is available and take the next step (Ex 14:15).  Likewise, God wants us to do the same.  After we remind ourselves of who we have put our trust in, refreshed our memories about His track record, God wants us to use what we have and take the next step. This is the walk of faith, the requirement to take to next step even into the unknown during the unforeseen if necessary.   The hard part of faith, the work (James 2:17), requires us to choose to trust Him, release the desire for control and move forward.  Despite the challenge this presents, wrestling with God will not result in getting our way.  It will only result in our getting in the way of Him and the greater gift He has in store.

Sow the seed:  God has a good plan for you even when it doesn’t look so good.

Nurture the seed:  “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” Jer 29:11