To The Left and Right

I’ve heard if I’m in an uncharted wilderness and I don’t pay close attention, I’ll wind up walking in a giant circle because my footsteps are not equal in length. If I don’t compensate for my natural gate, I’ll come back to where I started from, only a little worse off than last time I was there. I are told not to go to the right or to the left because it is in my make-up to do so. I get distracted, I lean toward one notion or the other, and I rely on my own thinking about good and bad when I should be thinking about not turning to the right or to the left. I get in trouble by asking myself the wrong question; by thinking I am capable of asking then right ones. I ignore my imperfections; my lopsided stride, and wind up walking in circles.

I used to try and figure out what I was supposed to write. It paralyzed me, stopped me in my tracks. I believe I clearly heard from God, “Write.” I thought it was a logical question to ask what I was supposed to write. “Yeah. I hear. You want me to write, but what?” I spent six months not writing, in direct disobedience, while I waited for God to meet my demand and tell me what to write. Sometimes turning to the left or right seems like a logical thing to do.

I’m not positive about this, but I think if God calls us to something and if the word “but” is anywhere in our response, we’re headed in the wrong direction.

The truth is we are all in the wilderness and most of us are going in circles around something we want to avoid. We try and try again and we keep coming back to the same place, we do what seems right and natural and it keeps messing us up. Isn’t God calling us to move beyond our natures, to a new way of being? It is not natural to move into the fear. We would rather turn to the left or right, try to go around it. But what we are called to is to be creatures of faith, to work out our salvation in fear and trembling.

God is calling us to deep waters and we are afraid we don’t know how to swim. God is good and He is able, and you can trust Him. If He’s calling you, jump in.