Quest for God's Map

My family will tell you that I love to have a map when I travel so that I can know exactly where I am, where I am going, and how to get there.

The other day I googled an address in Oklahoma. After I left and began to look at my printout, I realized that there was no map, only directions for where and when to turn. I had a fuzzy idea of where I was headed (Oklahoma is north) but I lacked the big picture about my journey. As I perused the directions, I noticed that a turn simply said 1^st Street. There could be lots of 1^st Streets in Oklahoma! I wanted a map.

Our lives are lived without maps although most of us yearn for one. Do you want God to give you precise directions to a named destination?

We often assume that God’s end for us is happiness, success, or popularity. We try to program our lives to get us there, not considering that God’s destination is more about who we are than what we achieve. Yes, God does have particular work for us to do. “For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them” (Eph. 2:10, NET). Yes, God has gifted each of us for those works and will lead us into them. But his greater work is within us; good works are products of who we are.

That means that there is no map; God leads us step-by-step. We don’t need maps because He is the guide. Sometimes that feels like being lost and out of control, which forces us to trust the One who holds us by the hand and guides us, knowing the He knows the way to Christlikeness.

Sometimes I don’t like the road down which God is taking me. Does it seem like God has you on the wrong road? What destination are you seeking? How is He guiding you to be more like Jesus?