“The steps of a man are made firm by the Lord; He delights in his way. Though he falls, he will not be hurled down, for the Lord supports him with His hand” (Ps. 37:23-24).
You may be at what you think is a dead end in your life: “We’ll never get out of debt!” “I’ll never have a baby.” “My dream will never come true.” “How will it ever work out?”
Right now it may look dark, you may feel defeated and it may all seem like a mystery. But one day, you will see in the light of eternity how it all fits together in God’s plan. Until then, here are three errors you need to avoid as you seek God’s will that will help you trust in Him even when you don’t understand.
- Don’t be fatalistic. The idea of fatalism—that everything that happens is God’s will—leads to self-pity. It causes us to blame God for everything bad in our lives rather than accepting responsibility that we caused the problem. And fatalism leads to passivity. It makes us think, “I’m waiting on God to bring me a wife” or “I’m waiting on God to get me a job.” But God’s saying, “I gave you a brain! I gave you two feet! Get out and do something about it!”
- Don’t be frustrated. If you try to figure out everything in your life, you’ll be frustrated. Sometimes you’ll do what you think is God’s will, and it will fail. “I thought God was leading me to start this business, but it failed.” What do you do when there are no answers? You keep trusting God, knowing He’s working on your character through all of your circumstances and has good plans for you.
- Don’t be fearful. What is behind the fear of God’s will? The root problem is that you doubt God’s love. The Bible says, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18a). We always get into trouble when we doubt God’s love, because when we don’t trust Him, we don’t obey Him.
Psalm 37:23-24 says, “The steps of a man are made firm by the Lord; He delights in his way. Though he falls, he will not be hurled down, for the Lord supports him with His hand.”
God’s will is an expression of his love. When you don’t understand what God is doing, have patience. He knows what’s best for you. You can’t see the end result, but he can. God’s path may be a path of pain, but all those delays, difficulties and problems are building character in your life. {eoa}
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church. His book, The Purpose Driven Church, was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of pastors.com, a global Internet community for pastors.
For the original article, visit pastorrick.org.
