But when you are walking by faith and trusting God to direct you step-by-step, you won't always see the whole picture at once. You will probably only see glimpses of the plan God has for you like pieces to a puzzle.
In the Old Testament, God led His people, but they had to trust Him and obey Him every step of the way in order to fulfill His will and receive His blessing. For example, God instructed the children of Israel to carefully follow the Ark of the Covenant so He could lead them into their promised land - a land of prosperity and rich blessings.
They were instructed when they saw the Ark of the Covenant to move from the place they had settled and "go after it" (Josh. 3:3). Joshua commanded the people not to follow the Ark too closely, nor to lag behind "...that ye may know the way by which ye must go: FOR YE HAVE NOT PASSED THIS WAY HERETOFORE" (Josh. 3:4).
The children of Israel traveled paths uncharted as they journeyed by faith toward their destiny. They had to depend solely on the Lord for direction because they had not gone that way before. Similarly, under the New Covenant, God has set a course before each of us. But in order to fulfill our destiny in Christ, we must obey God and trust Him to guide us step-by-step in our walk with Him.
As you follow the Lord's direction for your life, the future won't always seem clear to you, and God's plan for your life will not unfold overnight. Payday in God's Kingdom doesn't always come every Saturday night. But it does come! In the long run, obedience to God and His Word always pays.
In your walk with God, you will travel paths you haven't traveled before - paths that are new and unfamiliar to you. But they are not new or unfamiliar to God. The Bible says God knows the way that we take (Job 23:10) and that darkness is as light to Him (Ps. 139:12). You may not know the future, but God does! He has a plan for your life, and He knows how to successfully lead you in order to accomplish His plan.
As a Christian, you do not face the future alone. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is with you, and He will not lead you on a path where harm will overtake you. Rather, He promises to gently lead you on right paths if you will trust and obey Him.
The Lord may lead you on a path where the enemy seems to lurk on every side, trying to steal your joy and get you out of faith. But as you faithfully follow the Good Shepherd, you will receive your promised reward and feast at the table of blessing God has prepared for you (Ps. 23:5).
We must choose whether to follow God's leading and direction for our lives or our own plan. Will we allow Jesus our Shepherd to guide us by His Spirit, or will we follow the path of our own design?
We may not know everything the Lord has in store for us, but if we will trust Him and obey His leading every step of the way, He will bring us into our own promised land and fulfill His plan for our lives.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications