Confident of This Very Thing

“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ ‘…I…prepare a place for you…I will come back and take you’” John 14:3, 5.

There are times in our lives when we just have to be honest with God and say, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going with our circumstances. We don’t see the path laid out before us.’  How can we know in which direction to walk when the way is not lit?  Many times Jesus will call us to leave a certain season of our lives behind, not showing us future plans.  It is most frequently the way of God to call us out of our comfort zones, and have us walk in the unknown.  He did the same with His disciples when He asked them to leave their present vocations and follow Him.  He didn’t tell them much, just enough to keep them taking baby steps towards His goal for their lives.  For whatever reason, they didn’t think twice about walking away from their jobs.  But I am sure they gave second thoughts during the days that followed.  Did they arise in the morning longing for their former jobs and security?  Did they wonder how they would eat that day living out this new strange way of life?  One thing for sure…they depended on Jesus for their daily provisions instead of their former way of life.

When God does something new with our circumstances He already has the plan.  He hasn’t haphazardly begun something that He doesn’t know how to complete.  The Bible says that we can be ‘confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.’ Phil. 1:6.  God can do more with our lives that we can ever imagine.  Our circumstances, placed in the hands of the Lord can become a power instrument for the furthering of our faith.  But we must be patient in the wait, faithful in our belief and expectant in our prayers.  While things may seem stagnant God is moving…while we have questions God already has the answers…while we reside in the unknown God is orchestrating the known.

Whatever your present circumstances are, be encouraged that your situation is an expression of God’s activity in your life.  I read something yesterday that encouraged my heart in this unsettling season in my life.  ‘Where you are today is no accident.  God is using the situation you are in right now to shape you and prepare you for the place He wants to bring you into tomorrow.  Trust Him with His plan even if you don’t understand it’ Unknown origin.  He is preparing a place for me right now…He will come back when He has completed all of the plans for my future…He will take me to the place, His perfect plan, that He has worked out for my good, and the good of my family.