Being On The Way--The Lord Led Me

I was reading one of the daily devotional books that I read nearly every day, and a passage of Scripture quoted in the reading caught my eye.  In this passage from Genesis chapter 24, the servant of Abraham is speaking, and he says the most incredible thing about his journey to find a suitable wife for Abraham's son, Isaac.  

The servant of Abraham says, "...As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me..."  (Gen 24:27, NKJV).  There are other ways to translate that verse, to be sure.  "The Lord led me while I was on the journey," also works.  

You might be wondering why this verse is remarkable.  Think about what the servant doesn't say.  He doesn't say, "I waited to start my journey until I had clear directions from God."  He doesn't say, "I wanted to be careful about which way I went, so I waited until I knew for sure where God wanted me to go."  

He says, "...being on the way, the Lord led me."  He says, "The Lord led me while I was on the journey."  In other words, the servant stepped out in faith, believing that God would guide him.  He didn't wait for confirmation on when or where he should take the first steps of his journey, he just started walking and trusted that God would lead him.  

I was having a conversation with my wife the other day about a time in our life when we began a new journey in our life together even though the way forward wasn't clear.  What we knew then beyond a shadow of a doubt was that if we didn't take those first steps, we wouldn't get very far. 

And there was something about those first steps that just felt right.  As we prayed fervently for God's will to be revealed, what came to both of us was an overwhelming desire to step out in faith, and trust God to do the rest.  

We also knew instinctively that somewhere along the way, God would meet us on the road and reveal the way.  I told Merideth, "You know every time we've stepped out in faith like that, God has never let us down."  We reminisced then on the miraculous ways God provided for us, showed us incredible signs, kept leading us forward. 

Author, preacher and evangelist E. Stanley Jones once wrote, "Don't ask for the whole way; ask for the next step."  

If you say that you believe that God is good, that God has a plan for your life--then trust it.  We discover in the Scriptures that the LORD directs the steps of the godly (Ps 37:23) and that we can make all of the plans we want, but it is the LORD's plans that will prevail (Prov 19:21).  

If you are struggling today with a decision you need to make, a change in your life that needs to happen, or a journey you need to take---step out in faith.  Don't be afraid where your feet will land, God will guide them.  Surrender yourself to this knowledge and allow it to grant you peace.  

May you step forward in faith and courage, knowing that the LORD is with you on the path.  May you find the strength to trust the LORD fully and completely with your future, even though the way forward is hard to see clearly.  And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always.  Amen.