I’ve always been someone who loves to know what the plan is. It’s not that I am overly organised, but I like to know what to expect and to be clear in the details. So I find it unnerving and confusing when things don’t happen in the way I expect.
Marilyn and I are in a very uncertain situation at the moment and last night I was praying, ‘O Lord why can’t this be more simple?’ The thought came to me, ‘Child,don’t stand on circumstances which can change like shifting sand, instead let your faith be your sure ground. What is faith if it is not a certainty that keeps you moving forward when everything seems confusing? Put your faith in me and in my love for you, I have promised I will never leave or forsake you. I will guide and lead you into all the fulness of my promises to you. Put your hand in mine and trust me for your way ahead.’
As I took in the truth of this word from God I was reminded how the disciples were feeling overwhelmed with confusion and sadness as the time of Jesus death approached. They’d been full of excitement as they’d witnessed miracle after miracle and heard the power and authority of his words, but now he was talking about leaving them, being crucified and going home to his Father. None of it made sense. Where they’d been sure they knew the path ahead, they were now sinking in a quagmire of confusion and fear.
Do you feel like that too? Life can be like a roller coaster at times and Marilyn and I certainly know that feeling of shaking and uncertainty as we try to follow the right path.
But just as his friends were feeling overwhelmed, Jesus said something that gave them a completely new perspective: ‘I am telling you nothing but the truth when I say that it is good and advantageous for you that I go away. Because if I do not go away the Comforter, Counsellor, Helper, Advocate, Intercessor, Strengthener, Standby will not come to you, but if I go away I will send Him to you to be in close fellowship with you.’ John 16:7 (Amplified). How could it be so advantageous to them that he went? But from Heaven’s perspective God had something far bigger for them and all of us who believe. The very same Holy Spirit who filled Jesus would come to be with them in an unprecedented way. He would advocate for them, intercede for them, be their comfort, strength and ever present help. Where they felt they were standing on increasingly shaky ground, they were in fact standing on the greatest promise of all time and that very path of confusion, sorrow and fear would lead them through the doorway of experiencing God with them, the certain ground of his constant love and enabling presence. Every day they would be able to hear his voice of comfort, strength and empowering.
That is true for you and me too.
If your path is overwhelming or full of sadness and confusion, he is with you. Ask him to show you Heaven’s perspective and give you new understanding. He is your comfort and strength, ask him to hold you and give you the courage to keep moving forward. He is advocating and praying for you right now and how powerful must the prayers of God himself be. Jesus said he would never stop interceding for us, his beloved. We can be at peace and trust that whatever our situation he is bigger, however confused or lost we feel, he knows what we need and how to lead us through into joy and wonder. He is our standby and we can lean on him at all times.
I know that he has spoken to me to walk in faith so I’m going to take his hand and trust him to lead Marilyn and I on the right path. I don’t need to know every detail because details look different from heaven’s perspective! I just need to know he is with me, my wonderful Counsellor, Comforter, Advocate, Standby, Helper and Strengthener. I choose to trust and go forward step by step with him.
May you experience the richness of that promise too and know his wonderful peace and help as you trust in him.
