Our Faithful Guide

What should I be doing?

This question has occupied too much of my Christian journey. It's an earnest desire to be in God's will, and yet too often, it's placed the onus on me. I've tried to meet God's grace instead of receiving it.

Too often I look for the answer of how I can be faithful to God, for where He wants me to go, for what I should be doing. Like God is giving me a destination that is His will and His goodness and my obedience, but I have to map out the way there on my own, discovering the path and climbing it alone. 

But that is not who God is, and that is not how He wants me to live.

He wants me to live with Him.

He is a guide.

And if I have my guide, I don't need to know the destination. I don't need to know the way. I don't even need to know the terrain. All I need is to know my guide, and He is always with me.

If I seek my guide, He will lead me where I need to go. Step by step. He will prepare me with the tools I need along the way.

Yes, what we do matters. Yes, we want to be obedient. But the onus isn't on obedience but on seeking God and drawing near to Him. And when we do that, He will always guide our steps. 

"He will make straight your paths." ~Proverbs 3:6

"The LORD establishes his steps." ~Proverbs 16:9

"The steps of man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his ways." ~Psalm 37:23

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." ~Psalm 32:8

God's will, how to be faithful, these aren't questions God is burying under layers of dirt which we need to uncover. His heart is known in His Word, which He has given us. He directs us in the big questions of faith and in the individual callings. He wants to speak to us. Not always in our timing, but He wants to make His will, His heart, His voice known to us. And when He does, He is a God of clarity. We might not understand the whole picture, but He's not trying to confuse us. We don't have to prove our faithfulness by unweaving the web of His words; He is not a God of confusion. He is our guide in all things. He wants us to know His heart, and He wants us to depend on Him for every step of the journey, which He walks with us in never-ending love and safety.