It’s really that simple. Wherever He guides you whether that be decisions, prayer answers, a new opportunity, he will lead you in a way where he provides what you need. I love the story of Job as there is so much to unpack, lessons to learn, and God’s provision truly shine. You may be familiar with this story or maybe not, but each time I am reminded of it I am amazed.
Job is a righteous man whom the Lord has blessed. He is wealthy and enjoys good health. He has several children and is well respected in his community. And then for no reason that Job can understand, everything he holds dear and loves is suddenly taken from him. His children are gone. His possessions and property are gone. His prestige, health, and even the good favor of his wife are gone. Perhaps to his friends and neighbors, Job’s misfortune might look like random tragedies. From Job’s own perspective, he knows of no sin that would have brought God’s wrath upon him, but, being a righteous man, he does not blame God for what has happened.
In Job’s story, we see how God orchestrated what we might call the good things and the bad things, both of which were used by God for his own purposes. While this might seem cruel of God to allow Job to suffer, we also read that God was not sadistic in his purpose. He had a high regard for Job, and, in time, God restored to Job all that he had allowed to be taken away. The story of Job helped us to realize that the adverse events in our own lives could not be random. God had allowed these events to occur for a reason. If we chose to believe in his sovereignty, then we also need to believe in his promise to provide for all of our needs. We could not discount the incidents where his care was recognized as merely our good fortune. If he was allowing the bad things, then the good things could not be happening just by chance. It was this revelation that gave us hope in circumstances that appeared hopeless. Job’s story was one of loss, but God’s provision was one of restoration
If we exercise trust and acknowledge the Lord in every area of our lives, His promise is that He will guide us. To know God’s guidance, we must put aside our own will and seek the will of the Lord who has called us for His purpose. The basic principle in determining the will of God in any situation is to empty ourselves of our own will and to commit ourselves to seeking and obeying His will. If we claim to want to know God’s will, but we’re not willing to do it unless it agrees with our will, we’re kidding ourselves. In this case, all we really want is God’s approval of our plans. But we’ll never know God’s direction that way, because God reveals His will only to those who are committed to trust and obey Him.
You may be in a waiting period and I really think we are made to wait because God is withholding something from us, maybe we need to grow or we just aren’t ready for that yet. So if we get to a door and it doesn’t open, maybe God is asking us to wait because He has some more work to do on us first. Or maybe He is turning us in another direction. We must not gaze so longingly on the door that is closed that we miss the one that is open. God will open the right door for us in His time. Our duty is to trust and obey.
To find God’s will we must walk in constant communion with the Lord, taking everything to Him in prayer. “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). We need to realize that our steps are ordered by the Lord. When we walk with Him and are committed to His purpose, He will work in our life orchestrating everything for His honor and glory. If we trust in Him, the process becomes a beautiful blending of God’s faithfulness and sovereignty and of our obedient trust in Him. Our heavenly Father wants the best for us. He has a perfect plan for our lives. The key to living out His plan and being in tune with His will, is not only believing in God, but obeying Him as well. We must have faith and obey because, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).
Where God guides, He provides. I don’t want to go anywhere that He hasn’t guided me. Because I know that God supplies all my needs when I allow Him to lead me. I would rather be under His provision in His perfect timing.
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Couldn’t you say Job does in fact blame God? (Job 30:18-25) And this reveals an entirely new dynamic to our relationship with Him: being angry with God, contending with Him is actually another form of worship. And in a way, a more authentic relationship with our Creator? I think Job does blame God, but the beauty is he never turns away from God even in his suffering. We can sing worship songs on Sunday, but are we so close with Jesus, as a person, that we can scream and yell at Him through our tears in moments of tragedy?
I would love to hear other people’s thoughts on this 🙂