Pressing On in Uncertainty
By Jessica Brodie
The forest was dense as I walked the narrow trail, my faded hiking boots kicking up dust. The day was hot, I only had a few sips of water left, and I was getting a little nervous, mostly because I didn’t have a real sense of where I was. I only knew that if I followed the course, I would eventually reach the parking lot once again.
I squinted, trying to peer ahead, but I couldn’t see much. All the twists and bends had me confused, and I really wasn’t sure if I had a mile left or five hundred feet.
Have you been here, too? Not necessarily hiking on a trail, wondering how close it was to the end, but figuratively—have you been on a path, disoriented and unsure where it was leading, but knowing the only thing you can really do is keep walking?
That’s the case for a lot of us. Sometimes life’s plans seem clear, whether it’s our career path, deciding whether to begin a romantic relationship, or some other major decision, the path ahead seems straight and well-defined. It feels like we know exactly where we are going.
But other times, it’s a densely, wooded forest, and we can barely see the trail because of all the trees and obstacles in the way.
Sometimes we’ve been on that path for a really long time. We’re tired and hot and our feet hurt, and maybe we’ve just chugged our last bit of water. We can’t imagine there’s an end in sight, and we start to lose hope.
People around us tell us things like, “God has a plan,” or “Your purpose will become clear.”
But does he? Will it?
God does have a plan and a purpose for each of us, both a general and a specific one. But here’s the thing—it’s not always going to be clear. He doesn’t promise a career path or a compatible romantic partner or that if we work hard it’ll all come together. Those are mythologies, untruths to which we cling because we desperately want to believe we, too, can live the life we see portrayed on TV or in some idealized vision of the “good life.”
God’s plan for us, and our purpose, is woven into our relationship with him. Created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), we are nothing without him. As Jesus says in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (NIV). God tells us the first and greatest commandment is to love him with all our heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37). He tells us in Isaiah 43:7 that we are “created for (God’s) glory.”
Everything we do, everything we are, all points to God.
We also know from Scriptures that God gives every believer a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12:7) to use for his glory. As the apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:10-11, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
This much is clear: Our purpose is to glorify God and to love him. And we’re to use our spiritual gifts to serve him, and others.
The rest is just, well, the little stuff. The icing. It doesn’t mean they’re not important, or they don’t matter to God. But they’re supposed to tie into the greater picture, not detract from it.
This week is Holy Week, the time when we as Christians remember the week leading up to Christ’s death and resurrection. We remember Palm Sunday and Jesus’s procession into Jerusalem, Maundy Thursday when he held the Last Supper and then was betrayed, Good Friday when he was crucified, and finally Easter Sunday (or Resurrection Day), when the empty tomb revealed God the Son could not be contained by human hands.
As you go through this week, consider where you are in your life’s journey—your hypothetical hiking trail on the road to salvation. Are you struggling with doubts or choices? Are you downtrodden, wondering when your path will be clear? Or are you pressing on, planting your feet firmly on the path and striding alongside the Lord as you keep your head and your heart trained on doing whatever you need to do to glorify the Father?
Keep walking, sweet child of God. Press on in faith.
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Thanks to my Patreon sponsors: Matt Brodie, Emily Dodd, Kathleen Patella, Billy Robinson, Yancy Rose, and Lanny Turner.
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