When we are lost, we use various tools to help us find our way. We may reach for an old fashioned map or compass or we may consult the most up to date GPS.
We are convinced if we have the right information, we can find our way.
But what if our location is too new to be in any system? What if there is no path marked out for us? No road signs, trail markers, no bent twigs, no footprints.
We may have to face the fact we are lost. I have told the story many times of becoming lost while driving with my father on an old country road.
I began to panic and I said, “Oh Daddy, I am lost!” He smiled and said, “You’re not lost. You’re with me and I know where I am.”
When we are lost, we have a Guide Who knows exactly where we are and where we are going. Jesus is with us always, just as He promised.
“I am with you always.”
Matthew 28:20
He knows where we are and where we are going.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares The Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, Plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
But note, that encouraging verse does not say He lays out the whole Plan to us all at once. He knows. How do we know the way?
Jesus told us plainly. He does not just show us The Way. He is The Way!
Jesus answered, “I am The Way and The Truth and The Life.”
John 14:6
We find our way by following Him. There are eleven times recorded in the Gospels where Jesus said to follow Him.
One of my favorites is John 8:12.
When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am The Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have The Light of Life.”
When we follow Him, we must watch where He is going. He leads. We follow.
We must understand the route He takes may not look like the way we would have chosen. We must understand God’s Truth.
“For My Thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My Ways,” declares The Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My Ways higher than your ways and My Thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9
He will reveal The Way one step at a time. We get enough Light to see only the next step.
“Your Word is A Lamp for my feet, A Light on my path.”
Psalm 119:105
In fact, when we wonder why we are not moving forward, it may be that Jesus is waiting on us to fall back in line and start following Him step for step again.
Where are we going? We are going with Him to places unknown to us yet, but completely known to Him.
Will it be easy? No. Jesus was honest about that.
“In this world you will have trouble.”
John 16:33
But look at what else He said. The rest of the sentence is, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
And He even preferences the statement of trouble in the world by saying, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have Peace.”
These seem like uncertain times. The world is having trouble.
But we can be certain. We can take heart. We can have Jesus’ Peace that passes all our natural understanding.
We are not lost. We are with Him and He knows exactly where we are and where we are going.
I love rewatching the movie, Matthew, with Bruce Marciano as Jesus. Here is the link to the scene in which Jesus gives not a parting Promise, but an Imparting Promise with an invitation to come follow Him!
