walk.

“For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life…” Matthew 7:14 (ESV)

The way is hard. I seem to forget that concept pretty frequently, judging by my utter shock when things don’t seem to work out the way I’d like right away – especially when I know I’ve made the right choice, that I’ve taken a step in the right direction.

I wish things could be easier on this journey toward Home. Clearer, cleaner…but often times, they aren’t. Sometimes I move forward, knowing what God has called me to do in a particular situation, and things don’t get any clearer. Sometimes they get more confusing. And all I can do is just trust that God is good, and that what He has said is true, and…well, that’s pretty much it.

And as I look at some examples in the Bible, I see that things never worked all out that easily. They worked out, yes, but there were always obstacles – things that people like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, David, Esther, and countless others didn’t expect. Some things that were their fault, but a lot of things that weren’t. And there were waiting periods. Long waiting periods – decades, for some – where these heroes of our faith were walking in the dark. They didn’t know what was going to happen. They didn’t know how things were going to turn out. They just knew they had to keep moving forward, step by step, and hold onto the only thing they knew – that God was faithful.

And He was. And He is.

My own journey these days feels more like this: baby step by baby step…then take another small step…now pause and wait for a minute, ask some questions, wrestle with what I know to be true…then take another small step...

Some days it feels like I’m not getting anywhere. However, a wise person told me once that sometimes God only illuminates the next step – not twenty steps down the road, not even three. Just the very next step. And you take it, and then He shows the next one, and so on. That’s tough, because I want to know where things are going now. But I trust that what He says is true. He says the way is hard – and I am experiencing that – but it leads to life.

My encouragement to you, fellow sojourner, is this: Don’t lose heart. Even if you find yourself stopped on the road for a minute, don’t give up. Even if you feel completely in the dark, even though you know you’re on the right path, He has not led you astray. Cry out if you need to. Grope around in the dark for a minute…and find His hands…and take another baby step forward. He is leading us to life.