I need Your light to help me find
My place in this world"
I wanted to be a knight and live in a castle. Then I found out I was born a few thousand years late.
I wanted to be a pro baseball player. Then I found out it was a long shot.
I wanted to be a lot of things. Then I found God.
I have a place in this world. I do not know where, what, or anything else about my place. I just know the promises God has for me. I know I have a place in this world.
I may not be the heroic knight in shining armor. I may not hit a game winning home run in the World Series. I may not write for Sports Illustrated. I WILL be in exactly the place God intends for me to be.
Where does God intend me to be? Where does God intend YOU to be?
God has this sweet way of working in us. He takes us through some bends and twists on the path to where we are supposed to be. Sometimes U-turns, or those lovely Michigan left turns.
Moses had it easy. He got a burning bush. We don't get a tumbleweed that just spontaneously bursts into flame. As AWESOME as that would be, it doesn't work that way.
Instead, God leads us. He guides us to where we must go. When we come to Him and place our own dreams and ambitions at the foot of His throne, He will take over. The surrendering of our days to Him and saying "I will go" is all it takes. Wherever you take me Lord, I will go. Guide me, lead me, and I will follow after You.
In Exodus 13, we see how God leads His people. Pharaoh had set free the people, and God was taking them to the Promised Land. The easy path was to head due east through the upper Sinai Peninsula, through Desert of Shur and then northeast into Israel. This may have seemed to be the EASY way, but then God knows the Philistines are in land that this path would them through, and in that lay war.
It is so easy for us to be shortsighted. We see an easy path, the easiest solution, and we go for it. We love shortcuts and easy ways out. God doesn't work that way. What seems to be, is not always so. God always knows best, and we most often don't. God never promised us it would be easy, He never made such a promise to the Israelites either. He just promises He will be there to carry us home.
Looking back to Exodus, we find out the path that God has for His people is to trek to the Red Sea. South. Not east. South.
The most amazing thing we see is verse 21, "The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night." God leads His people. He is their guidance, and their map. They have no other way to go.
The thing that jumps out at me is no mention of nay-sayers. There are no mentions of doubters or questions being asked as they start the journey. They followed God, no questions asked. The end. God has delivered them from the hands of Egypt, and they will follow Him all the way home.
40 years they walked. Many of them would never see the Promised Land. The path God had them follow was long, winding almost around the whole southern portion of the Sinai Peninsula. Think of it this way, the path they took was similar to walking to Fort Wayne from Grand Rapids then to Detroit, instead of walking straight to Detroit. That is a long way out of the way.
How do you view your path to getting to the place in this world God wants you to be? Do you follow Him, no matter where it leads?
Put yourself on this path of the sons of God being delivered from Egypt. We know the history now, God did INCREDIBLE things for the people in those 40 years. He gave Moses the power to part the Red Sea, and the Jordan River. He gave them just enough food for the day, always having enough provisions. He made water flow from a ROCK at the strike of Moses' staff. Then to top it off, He gave to us the Ten Commandments during this time. He showed His glory and how awesome His power is to His people!
Now, why don't we follow Him on the path He takes us to. We see so clearly in this example how God provides for us no matter what. We see He has a reason for the extra time and extra twists and turns. There it is, God has a place in this world for you and me, it is just a matter of following Him to get there.
I can see the start of this path in my life. Baseball lead me to sports writing, which is leading me to writing now. That probably is not the end for me still. It is a process that God takes us on, step by step pushing us to the place He wants us to be. When He finally gets us there, we will know.
I have a place in this world. God is leading me to my place in this world. God has a place for me in this world. It is just a matter of time.
James 4:14-15
Yet you do not know what you life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that."
--April 11, 2008
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