Scripture Focus:
Acts 16:6–7 (NIV) — “The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with His hand.”
You were moving toward something you believed God wanted for you, and then you hit a wall. The plan stalled, or the door you expected to open stayed shut, and now you’re not sure whether to push harder or whether God is quietly turning you somewhere else.
Not knowing is one of the hardest places be. You hit resistance, and you can’t tell what it means—whether God is closing the door or asking you to push through. Last week we said the first move isn’t to try to figure out what the resistance is, but instead, to stay close to Jesus. That’s still where we begin. But staying close doesn’t make the question of what to do next go away. So, we do one of two things: we wait, hoping clarity will come if we think long enough, or we force our way through, just to be done with the not-knowing.
The trouble is, God doesn’t usually hand us the whole map. Psalm 37 tells us the Lord makes firm our steps, but not necessarily the route or all the answers in advance. He generally gives us just the next thing in front of us. The good news is, He isn’t standing back, waiting for us to solve it. He’s right there with us, offering to lead, the way He always has.
So then, the question stops being “what does this mean?”—which we often can’t answer anyway—and becomes “God, what are You asking of me right now?” That’s a question He loves to answer. And it gets us moving with Him again, even before the rest comes into focus.
So we stay close to Him. Not so He’ll finally explain Himself, but because nearness is what makes us willing to move before we can see how it ends. When we’re following that closely, fear starts to lose its grip, even in our uncertainty or questioning whether or not we heard Him right. The outcome was never resting on us in the first place. He holds it. We just keep trusting.