Following The Map

He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.


--Psalm 23:3

Have you ever set out to go somewhere, only to realize that the direction you were heading was the wrong direction? There’s nothing quite like the experience of a trip that ends up going in a direction different then you thought it would.

That’s how it is at times in our Christian lives. We are called to follow Christ, which sounds easy enough. But there are times when it feels like He is taking us in a different direction then we thought He would. That’s when we need to cling to the Bible’s promise that Christ will indeed be with us and lead us every step of the way.

When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, God instructed him not to take the quickest and most direct route to Canaan, but to follow the path He would lead him on. I’m sure Moses wondered many times what was going on and why God was having the nation of Israel trek so many extra miles to reach the Promised Land.

But God was working out His plan in His way. In fact, in Deuteronomy 8:2, Moses says this about God’s leading in the wilderness, “And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.”

Be assured God is at work in your life no matter how strange His leading might seem at the moment.

So if you’re not sure where you’re heading today, just get close to Christ and don’t give in to the temptation of giving up or going the way you think best. We don’t have the promise of an easy and clear journey, but we do have the promise of His guidance!