TAKE THE NEXT STEP
By Pastor Jim May
Sometimes life can be so confusing. I cannot tell you the number of times that I have come to a point in times of confusion when I did not know which way to turn or what to do next. In those times I often think of the words of Moses to the Children of Israel at the Red Sea when he said in Exodus 14:13, "…stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD…” Sometimes those words ring loudly in my heart and I know that God wants me to just “stand still” and listen for His voice and hear His counsel. But that isn’t always the case.
Sometimes standing still is just not an option. I feel impressed, even pushed to go forward, but which direction to take – that is the question. None of us want to miss the will of God and go off in the wrong direction. We all want to stay right in the center of God’s will.
The problem we encounter is that we often don’t know exactly where that center is. We can see that God is leading us. We know that He is taking us somewhere. But, in our confusion, we can’t see where to go because of the fog of doubts and troubles that surround us.
I know that all of you have driven in a dense fog. You know there’s a road in front of you, and if it a road that you travel often, you have a sense of which way it will turn. But what about those roads that you haven’t traveled; can you tell which way the road will go now? When you top the hill, does it go to the left, to the right, or does the road continue on straight ahead? Will you be in the ditch or on the road, or even worse, will something be in the road that you won’t see in time to stop? There is nothing more frustrating than to be in a hurry to get somewhere and have to contend with the fog.
That’s the way that life is all too often. I often find myself saying, “Now Lord, I know you brought me to this place, but what comes next?”
I remember a story that is told of man who was hiking on a high mountain trail in a fog. He was walking along a good trail with the rock under his feet. But unknown to him there was a place in the trail where the rock had fallen away. He was so sure of the trail that he really wasn’t paying attention so he stepped into that hole and slipped over the side. Just as he started to fall, he happened to see a little bush growing out of the side of the mountain and he was barely able to grab hold of a branch and keep from falling into the depths below. He couldn’t see anything below but fog. He could see the trail above but he couldn’t get back to it. With each passing second his hands were slipping and the branch seemed to be giving way. What could he do?
He did what any of us would do – he started yelling for help. But he also knew that there was probably no one there to hear his cry. This was a trail that not many would use, so his chance of rescue was very slim. No one could hear his cries. No one could help him now – it seemed so hopeless.
Then, out of the fog, came a voice. It was a low, deep voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once. The voice simply said, “Let Go”.
Let Go; are you nuts? Let Go; don’t you know that it is several hundred feet, maybe more to the bottom of this mountain. Let Go; that’s out of the question. I don’t think so.
Again the voice said, “Let Go. It will be all right.” The thoughts began to race through his mind, “Am I losing it? Is this the end? Is that the voice of death calling to me?”
He just couldn’t let go but his grip was growing weaker and the branch was continuing to turn loose from the rocks so he knew that it wouldn’t matter shortly anyway. So he took one last deep breath, closed his eyes, prayed for God to help him and then let go of the branch. In an instant he was in a free-fall and in a split second, his whole life flashed before him as he fell in terror.
He fell about 8 feet when suddenly he felt someone reach out and grab him. At the same time he felt his feet hit something solid. What he didn’t know is that there was another traveler on that trail, a Park Ranger, who made daily trips ahead of everyone else just to make the path safe. The Park Ranger was coming from the opposite end of the trail and just a few feet farther along; the trail had a switchback to where the rocks had fallen.
We are much like that mountain hiker. We are trying our best to walk in the path that Jesus has laid out for us. We are sure of our path for we know that we have been put into the right path by the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. There is no surer path for life than the one we are walking on right now. We know that it is a solid path that we walk on for it is founded upon the Rock of Ages. We know where it leads us, to the glories of Heaven and eternal life. We know that it has its twists and turns, but we are convinced that we will never go astray as long as we stay on this straight and narrow path.
We are convinced, like King David was in Psalms 18:36 when he said, "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip." We hear the words of Job as he speaks to his friends in Job 31:4, "Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?"
And I dare say that there is not one of us here who cannot quote what David said in Psalms 37:23, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.”
What we really don’t like, and what we often try to forget is what David said in the next verse, Psalms 37:24, "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand."
Now wait a minute God! Just hold on here! You mean to tell me that even though I am walking the straight and narrow, and my feet are on the Rock, and your Word promises me that I have salvation and eternal life – THAT I WILL FALL ANYWAY! Come on God, can’t you keep that from happening?
The answer is, “Yes, God can keep us from falling.” But God allows us to have the free will to choose whether we will walk perfectly before Him or choose to make a wrong step from time to time. The good thing is that, even if we make a wrong step, God takes those opportunities to test our faith and trust in Him and remember the rest of Psalms 37:24.
But God, I would rather that I didn’t fall in the first place! It’s your fault! It has to be! I was doing everything right! It’s not my fault that the path had a pothole in it. In fact, God, if you are really directing my path, why are there so many potholes for me to trip over? Can’t you do any better than that?
That sounds like some people I have met through the years. We don’t like to take the fault for anything we do. We always want to point the blame on someone or something else.
All of us have faced times when we didn’t know whether we were in the right church or not. I remember a time when I suddenly fell into a deep pothole in my walk with the Lord. There I was, rocking along, doing all the right things, working for the Lord in a ministry for the youth when all of a sudden, the trail seemed to just disappear beneath my feet. It wasn’t my fault. It was the preacher’s fault. If he had behaved himself, I could have kept going without a problem.
True enough, when the leader of the church has a problem, it will affect all of us. But understand something here. “It isn’t the leader’s fault if we fall.” He won’t cause us to fall if we are truly walking the path that God has laid before us. If we have our eyes on Jesus and we are staying close to him, even when our leaders fail, it won’t stop us. But if we get our eyes on a man, looking to him for all the answers, and we don’t continually seek the will of God, then we are surely headed for a fall.
I should have known that something was coming. I should have seen ahead a little ways on the trail and known that God was getting ready for something different in my path. I can look back now and see why many things happened the way they did, and I know now that God had a hand in everything that happened so that He could bring me to this day and the path that I am in now.
Yes, we will trip on the path. We will fall into the pits of confusion. We will wonder what to do next! But the important thing to remember is that when those things happen, don’t let go of Jesus’ hand.
In those times of trouble when we don’t know which way to turn, we can all identify with King David in Psalms 73:1-3, "…Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked."
In times of such confusion we all tend to try to “figure out” what God is doing. There is a method that all of us use to try to find the mind of Christ before we make a final decision and commit to a path. The method that we use to find the will of god is called “Trial and Error”.
Proverbs 16:9 says, "A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps."
Devising our way means that we follow our heart and attempt to listen for the inspiration of the Holy Ghost in every move we make.
Some of you here are in that process right now. Maybe all of us are to certain degrees.
One example that I can give you of this is when we “feel” that it’s time to move on to another church. How many of you know that changing churches can be a traumatic experience? Sometimes we feel almost forced to make the change when we really aren’t ready to. At other times we welcome the change because we know we aren’t getting anything and we don’t feel at home anymore.
So how do we go about finding the mind of Christ in this process? Through “Trial and Error” we start devising our way. We visit wherever the Spirit of the Lord inspires us to go. Sometimes we find the right place very quickly, especially if we really are following the leading of the Spirit, because God wants us to have a church we can call home. He knows how important it is for us to be with other Believers. But sometimes that search isn’t so easy.
Sometimes we have to try several churches before we find one that feels right. Eventually though, God will “direct your steps” while you are “devising your way” and you will come to the place where God’s direction and your way come together.
It’s not just in selection of a new church that this process of “Trial and Error” is at work. It works the same in the selection of a new job, in the selection of a spouse, in the choosing of a place to live, and in every part of life. Every time we have to make a decision in life, that “Trial and Error” comes into play.
The thing that we all must strive for is that we make less “Error” in the face of the “Trial” while we are searching for the mind of Christ in our path.
The method of “Trial and Error” isn’t comfortable. We often don’t really know which step to take next. Thank God that is the Lord Jesus Christ is in control and directing those steps. I can go on, taking the next step, and the next and the next, knowing that somehow Jesus is going to bring me into the right place, right in the center of His perfect will.
Though my heart isn’t always perfect, and my devising isn’t flawless, and my decisions can often be wrong, I can rest assured that Jesus is never wrong. As long as I am doing my best to follow Him, to hear His voice, to follow His Word and to know His will, I will never stray very far off center because Jesus is directing my steps.
Sometimes I feel like I’m taking two steps forward and one step back, but Jesus is still directing my steps.
It might take me twice as long to get where I’m going, but I will get there because Jesus is directing my steps.
I might not see the next step before I lean forward by faith and put my foot out one more time, committing my future to an uncertain step, but I know that Jesus is still directing my steps.
And I know that if I fall, He will lift me up one more time and tell me just to keep on making the steps as he directs them.
Are you wondering which way to go this morning? Are you caught in the Valley of Decision trying to devise your way by following your heart and trying to find the Mind of Christ?
The only advice I can give you is this. Just take the next step. Follow you heart, and take the next step. You will only know whether it was the right step after you step out. This life is a walk by faith, not by sight. You will rarely know where the next step will take you until after you step out. Just rest assured in the confidence that Jesus is directing every step you take and He will keep you in the right way as long as your eyes are upon Him.
Psalms 85:13 says, "Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps."
Jesus, our Righteousness, and His will for you to live in His Righteousness, will always be out in front. He knows your beginning from your end. He knows where you are going and He has already cleared the path for your steps to be secure. He shall set us on the right path and He will never let us go astray.
Just take the next step and put your trust in Jesus.
