Which Way Do I Go?

                My husband and I have found ourselves at another T in the road. We have a decision to make and not sure which way we are to go. It has been a dream of mine to write, not only this blog but a book and to become a published author. Well, the book is finished, now the question is, what do we do with it? We have two choices in front of us. We can go to the right or we can go to the left. As I prayed this morning, a song came into my heart. The song is “Help Me Find It” by Sidewalk Prophets. The chorus goes as follows: “If there’s a road I should walk, help me find it. If I need to be still, give me peace for the moment. Whatever Your will, Whatever Your will, can You help me find it?” (YouTube link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIpIHfZ88PM) 

                “You ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.” Isaiah 30:21

                We all come to a T in the journey of our faith at some point. Some of us are there now, waiting for direction, waiting to hear that voice behind us telling us to go right or to go left. But what do we do when we don’t hear that voice, when we are standing waiting, but nothing is coming. Both ways you can go seems to be right, and you tell yourself that you must take a step of faith. But something keeps you standing there, keeps you from making a decision. The questions running through your mind are- Is that you afraid to step out in faith or is that the Lord asking you to wait?

                As I studied these words of Isaiah, I realized that sometimes the Lord does not give us directions because He is waiting on us. Isaiah 30:18 says, “Therefore, the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you”. The Lord is not giving us direction because He is waiting for us to do what He has asked us to do. Never act in haste. Haste is not faith. Haste can lead us down the wrong path and we may find ourselves in a pit of trouble. So we must wait. I have a tendency to get out ahead of God. The Lord gave me a visual one day of me standing in front of a Chariot, reins in my hands all the while waving to the Lord to get in the back and let’s go, I was waiting on Him. Over the years I have learned that getting out ahead of God is dangerous. I may not like waiting, but there is always a purpose and a reason for it, and I should not be so hasty to act.

                The Lord reminded me again this morning about the blessings of waiting. I need to hear this a lot, unfortunately, because I am a dive in head first kind of personality. My husband however, he is not. He waits and chews on something for days, weeks and months before making a decision. This is difficult for me because I want to dive in and have faith that God will catch me no matter what. This is not always a bad way to approach our walks, but there are times when God calls us to wait.

                There are reasons to our waiting as I stated before. The first one could be that He is asking you to wait so that He can work out some areas of your life before you can travel the next stage of your journey. He may need to work in you to strengthen you for what lies ahead. It could be that He wants to develop a fruit of the Spirit in you so that you can complete the task that awaits you. Whatever His reason for telling you to wait, it is a good one and is always for your benefit. (Jeremiah 29:11)

                The other possibility is that He is waiting on you. The Lord does not want us stagnant. He always wants us to keep moving, to keep growing. However, sometimes the Lord is not asking us to wait on Him because He is waiting on us. “You will also defile the covering of your images of silver, and the ornament of your molded images of gold. You will throw them away as an unclean thing; you will say to them, “Get away!” (Isaiah 30:22) We may not be getting the direction we are seeking because the Lord has asked us to let go of something, to lay down some area of our lives that we have yet to do. He is waiting on us before He can give us the next steps we are to take. He wants to bless us, but He also knows that if we keep holding onto this baggage, it will trip us up or drag us down. He is waiting on us to be obedient to what He has asked before we can take the next turn.

                There is always a reason for waiting. It could be that you are waiting for a promise to be fulfilled, or perhaps you find yourself where we are at, waiting for direction. Whatever the case may be, there is a reason why the Lord has you waiting. We must seek from the Lord direction at all times. Making a decision in haste without consulting the Lord leads to much trouble and turmoil. Take it from someone who knows all too well the pain and suffering of diving in head first.

                The Lord has a lot to say to us in His word about waiting, and all of it is good and for our benefit. The crossroads that we face are all part of the journey. If you take the wrong turn, you could end up lost. God is waiting for us to come to Him and ask for directions. We may not like His answer, but Father always knows best. “It’s always better to be uncomfortable and in tune with the Lord, than to be comfortable and out of step with God.” (David Guziak, Blue Letter Bible)

                Waiting is uncomfortable, but there is a reason for it, and we must trust that the Lord God will lead us in the way that we should go. There are going to be times and seasons in our lives when it seems like the waiting is longer than the journey, but it is in the waiting that we find the will of God , the strength to keep walking, and the peace to let go of any baggage that may hinder us. When we wait for the Lord to work in us or to work out in our hearts those areas of our lives that need His attention, then we will reap the blessings He has stored up for us and we will find the way in which we should go. Wait I say, on the Lord. Amen and Amen.