“Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”*
A few months ago I seriously considered making a job change. It isn’t a decision I would make lightly, even in a more stable economy, because my work is integral to living out my call to love God and my neighbor. As I debated pros and cons, I found myself growing frustrated: if only I knew what God intended me to do, I would do it. The silence seemed like a real mistake on God’s part – here I am, willing to make the right choice, if only I were clear on what “the right choice” was. But as is so often the case, certainty eluded me.
But of course, I’d made the same error as Thomas, thinking I needed to know the destination in order to know the way. But that’s rarely how God operates; when Abram left home, when Saul met God on the road to Damascus, when Jesus called the disciples themselves – the Bible is filled with examples of people who are asked to step out on faith without a detailed game plan of how it was all going to go. I read a quote in my twenties that explained it so clearly – the exact wording and source are lost to me now, but it went something like this: “We’re always looking for clarity, when God is asking us for trust. The path will never be clearer than one step at a time.”
We need not despair in the absence of clarity. When we learn to trust, and finally give up trying to squint through the thick fog ahead – then we look down at where we stand and realize we see our next stepping stone clear as day. No matter our destination, we always know the way: one step at a time, taken in trust and hope and love.
-Erica Lloyd, Seekers Church
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Read this anonymous poem, popularized by twentieth century missionary Elizabeth Eliot:
From an old English parsonage down by the sea
There came in the twilight a message for me;
Its quaint Saxon legend, deeply engraven,
Hath, as it seems to me, teaching from Heaven.
And on through the hours the quiet words ring,
Like a low inspiration: DO THE NEXT THING.
Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment by moment let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, guidance, are given.
Fear not tomorrows, Child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus. DO THE NEXT THING.
Do it immediately; do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command,
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ‘neath His wing,
Leave all resultings. DO THE NEXT THING.
Looking to Jesus, ever serener,
(Working or suffering) be thy demeanor.
In His dear presence, the rest of His calm,
The light of His countenance be thy psalm.
Strong in His faithfulness, praise and sing!
Then, as He beckons thee, DO THE NEXT THING.
