I'll Take it From Here, part 1

Many of you know that Hebrews 11:8 has been a favorite of mine for a long time: "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."

What has appealed to me about this verse is the reminder that, even though I may have no idea the directions in which God is leading me, I can follow Him faithfully and, later, I trust in the fact that the unknown place to which He is leading will be my inheritance of joy and promise. I've put a lot of energy and effort (as longer term readers will know!) into stepping forward into the unknown and embracing His faithfulness as my promise of security in the way told of in this very verse.

But oh how subtle and tricky life can be! Or how dense, perhaps, my little human mind can be! I've recently uncovered a new area in my life where I need to apply similar principles to those used when stepping, on faith, into the unknown. The difference is just subtle enough that I, in my headstrong self-reliance, have managed to miss it for quite some time now. And all the while, I've just been stepping deeper and deeper into that trap that comes when I start to trust in my own ways.

Though they sometimes feel few & far between, there are areas in life in which I've felt God step in and say, "Hey, this is where I'm taking you. The destination looks like this." A friend summarized my own situation perfectly when she said, "It's like you took that direction and said, 'Okay, great. Thanks for the end-point. I'll just go ahead and take it from here.'"

I have to stop and observe that my frequent prayer (like many of you, I'm sure) is for God's direction in my life. Yet, when I think about that, I have to laugh. In some ways, I have listened only long enough to hear information about the target-point. Yet, that's not really all of it, is it? When I ask a friend for directions to her house, I generally expect more than the name of the subdivision or neighborhood. I'm saying, "Alright, I see that I'm coming to your home. Now, how do I get there?" Yet, with the Lord, in some pretty important areas, I've done a terrible job of asking "How do I get there?" Once He's said, "You're heading to this place," I've just gone on my merry way.

And yet...

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

And Hallelujah for that truth! (Although, I admit, it's that same truth that - at times - has frustrated me to distant end!)

So, then what? Then I wait on the Lord. Lord, I ask not only where we are going, but how it is You should like me to get there. Guide me, Friend & Father, guide me!