“I never see my way. I know God who guides so I fear nothing. I never have far-seeing plans, only confident trust.”
“Trust God and do the next thing.”
– Oswald Chambers
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
2 Corinthians 5:7
I get asked by wives who are coping with sexual sin in their marriage if they should divorce their husband. My response is to ask them, “What is God saying to you to do?” Usually, they’ve been hearing to wait, pray, step back and let God work, or take an action step. I can’t remember a single instance where He was telling them to get a divorce. There are some marriages that don’t make it, but our approach is to help them walk with God, hear Him, and take the next step He gives them. There are way too many counselors and “friends” who are quick to lower the boom and tell a hurting wife to leave their husband without giving a thought to what they’re saying or spending a minute in prayer seeking God’s will in the matter. God’s heart is to restore the marriages He put together; here at Blazing Grace we try to align ourselves with His desires.
In just seven words – “Trust God and do the next thing” – Chambers summed up what is often the way of the Christian life. Or maybe, I should say the way of the Rogue Christian.
Several years ago I had lunch with the founder of another ministry. When he asked me what my plans were for Blazing Grace, my response was that I work to walk with God and follow His leading. Silence. That’s not the way our educated, program-orientated, hyper-scheduled culture gets it done. Every minute is planned in our church services, which doesn’t leave room for God. What if He wanted to put everyone on their knees in beseeching prayer Sunday morning? (The church, after all, is supposed to be a house of prayer – Isaiah 56:7). Or break up, share, and pray? As I’ve endeavored to walk with God I’ve seen that He has a tendency of blowing my plans away and pointing me off the main road, which is packed with other believers, and onto one less traveled.
In his book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala shares the following:
“I have met preachers who have pulled up a computer file and proudly showed me what they would be preaching for nearly the next year. Everything was cut and dried. The pressure of having to seek God week by week had been removed… Without an anointing and prophetic edge to declare something fresh from God’s word, church life can be reduced to little more than a lecture series.”
“Trust God and do the next thing” is a radical departure from the way many modern believers, pastors included, are living the Christian life.
We trust people we know. We build trust when we spend significant time with the other person, get to know their character, find common ground, enjoy their company. In the context of our relationship with God, this means time in prayer and His word, every day. We invite Him into every area of our lives; I ask the Lord to order my way and even my prayers, often. Our prayer life must be deep, rich, and ongoing; void of ritual and long on listening and seeking Him passionately.
We make plans but hold them loosely, giving Him plenty of room to change course when He wants to. Rigid, black-and-white Christians who have trouble seeing the gray zones of life may struggle here. There is safety in their structure and plans, so they think, until God collapses their scaffolding, as He did with Paul on the road to Damascus and many others in Scripture.
“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9
As we seek Him, get to know Him and His word, and learn to hear His voice, He will give us the next step. This may be where many get stuck.
His next step might be…
* For the isolated believer to get out of their hidey hole and meet with other Christians on a consistent basis. (Proverbs 18:1, James 5:16, Acts 2:42).
* To face the heart wounds that have been medicated, buried and avoided for years.
* For the single Christian who is having sex (especially if the other person is an unbeliever) to end the relationship.
* To forgive someone who has done nothing to earn it and may never admit wrong, just as Jesus did on the cross when He asked His Father to forgive those who put Him there.
* Change our diet and exercise, especially if our health has been going downhill for years and flashing bright red warning lights. Sugar and fake foods are usually the culprits.
* Face a sin He’s been putting His finger on for a long time and turn from it, such as pride, a hair-trigger temper, lust, complaining, backbiting, cutting words, manipulating, lying, or wasting our time on pleasure and entertainment.
* Restoring our first love, which may mean we’ve been playing church and have little interest in God other than Sunday morning.
* Stop, and rest. Have you ever noticed in Psalm 23:1 that He has to make us stop and lie down in order to restore our soul?
* Get help for an issue, such as a heart wound or a struggle with sin, that you’ve been ducking for years and refused to do anything about.
* Surrender your control freak tendencies and put your loved ones in God’s hands.
* Confess sin to another believer and/or your spouse.
* Stay in a marriage that you’d rather bail out of.
* Be kind to someone who has hurt you. Repeatedly.
* Do something that scares you to death, forces you out of your comfort zone, and might come at a high cost.
Anyone can say “I trust God,” but the acid test of whether we’re walking the talk comes when He provides the next step and how we respond.
“But Moses said, ‘Please, Lord, send someone else.’”
Exodus 4:13
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”
Luke 6:46
“You are My friends if you do what I command you.”
John 15:14
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
James 1:22
There are many Christians who know plenty of Scripture but will never grow or live an effective life. Trusting God and walking with Him isn’t the same as trusting your doctrine-set or knowledge about Him. Some believers have drifted away from Him because they refuse to take the next step they know God has been asking of them, especially when willful sin is involved. At some point they will yield, or God will allow them to have their way and they will continue to drift and harden their heart, or, this will happen:
“For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
Hebrews 12:6
Picture yourself stretched out between two posts, a hand tied to each post, back exposed. You turn around and to your horror you see that Jesus is preparing to strike you with a cat of nine tails. That’s not a picture I’ve ever seen of Jesus; most images portray Him as a happy hippy, not the holy Son of God with eyes of fire and a face that shines like the sun as we see in Revelation 1.
I’ve experienced His scourgings and can attest that He know the pressure points to hit when His son or daughter has wandered off and put Self on the throne. We would save ourselves a lot of pain if “Trust God and do the next thing,” which includes obedience, was our way of life.
He is our Father and so His discipline is for our good. We should not see Him as cruel, but as kind and merciful.
“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”
Romans 2:4
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews 12:11
God doesn’t force Himself on anyone. He will allow you to continue to attempt to cover your wounds, hold on to bitterness, have as much sin as you like, rot in isolation, swell up in pride, train wreck your relationships with anger, manipulation, and control, waste your life in pleasure and entertainment, or live a choked, prayerless life. It won’t end well.
If God has given you the next step you know He wants you to take, no matter what it is, don’t wait. Do it today.
If you need a little time to ask Him to confirm His will, that’s fine; I ask Him to confirm if it’s Him speaking all the time. Never assume that every thought floating through your mind is from God. When God speaks what you hear will always line up with His word. Asking for the feedback of other prayer-filled believers is often helpful too. But when He’s confirmed His will and you know in your heart it’s from Him, move forward.
The Lord is patient, kind, forgiving, merciful; He has forgiven me thousands of times for sin and shown wonderful grace and mercy. He is also holy and doesn’t compromise with sin, nor does He play games with it, and obedience is a serious matter with Him.
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
1 Samuel 15:22-23
There are many believers today who are floating through life in disobedience, doing as they please and in a dangerous place with God. You don’t want that. Part of the problem with our comfort-driven modern churches is that we have stripped the fear of the Lord away, communicating the idea that He is okay with disobedience.
“Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…”
2 Corinthians 5:11
After you take the step God has given you and as you continue to seek Him, He will give you the next step, in His time. His process often involves waiting, much prayer, and continuing to take care of the people and circumstances He’s given you.
As you learn to trust Him and do the next thing, the Christian life can become an adventure where new horizons are opened. It’s a wonderful way to live as God’s direction for our life is more than anything we can imagine, and He adds unexpected blessings into the mix along the way. As we learn to trust Him, our burdens and fears of the future are released. We have the peace that comes from knowing we’re in the center of His will. There is no need to strive, force our way, or manipulate. When we live in the stream of His will it’s easier to release outside circumstances and those we love into His hands. He opens doors in unexpected ways and places, and gives wisdom, direction, and strength. When God leads us out of our comfort zone it’s an opportunity to grow and get to know Him, not something to be feared. In time we become strong in faith.
“No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God”
Romans 4:20
Prayer is critical. So are extended times in solitude and silence, and time in His word. It will be next to impossible to hear Him if you won’t slow down and rest with Him, every day.
There will be times when God asks something of us and circumstances gets harder, spiritual warfare goes off the charts, or suffering increases. We may be ill or feel weak. Our obedience may cost those around us more than it does us. For Jesus, obedience meant 3 years of strife with religious leaders that eventually led to a brutal death, even though He did nothing wrong. 11 out of the 12 apostles were killed, as was Paul. Our time on earth is not our final destination and obeying God is far more important than comfort or pleasure.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21
