If you are a regular reader of this blog you might be wondering why the first post for this month is coming this late. I obviously have no excuse, but truth is – I am in the middle of so many things. Life is happening to me. Its been a time of learning to follow and trust God’s leading. So, in today’s post I will try show you what I have been learning.

There’s this saying among Christians that you don’t need to know the way when you’re following “The Way,” i.e Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Pretty true! Christ demands our complete trust in His ability to lead us right. But you see, sometimes we have difficulty following after Jesus because His Ways don’t always make “sense” to us. You feel like stoning me for blasphemy, right? Hold it. If God’s ways always aligned with our senses man would never have a problem following his leadings and obeying His commandments wholeheartedly but we sometimes do!

Sometimes we question God’s ways, sometimes we refuse to yield because they don’t just make “sense.” Isn’t that why He says in Isaiah 55:8, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways…”

In following God’s leading, we come to these two junctures:
1. Where His leading doesn’t make “sense” to us, and
2. Where we feel He has left us alone.

Let me illustrate the first juncture. I am a car owner on a journey I have never embarked upon before. Midway, I come across a man who knows the way very well, Let’s call his name J. I decide to give him a ride so he can show me the way. Funny thing is – this man prefers to sit at the owner’s corner and I don’t have a problem with that, after all he’s older and more knowledgeable.

Along the way we encounter a gridlock and I see everyone use a different route which seems like a short cut, I peep and see that the short cut is free of traffic and I try to follow suit because that’s what obviously makes sense to do. As I try to take the short cut, I hear J tell me that I shouldn’t. I heed his advice. We continue in the traffic jam for another harrowing one hour and then I see another route being taken by many others, it seems like another short cut. This time my mind is made up and I try to join the route, again J says no, continue driving in this hold up. Ol’boy! Feels like I have had enough. I do a quick thinking and conclude, this is my car and this is my journey, why listen to this man and continue in this mess? At that moment I tell J to come down from my car. I can make do with road signs, help from passers by and co-travellers.

I don’t know if you saw yourself in that illustration but that’s the way it really feels when you’re being led not to take the popular route, it just doesn’t make any sense. But we know that, “…as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are (God’s) ways higher than (our) ways, and (God’s) thoughts than (our) thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9). In the short run, our plans/ideas can turn out superb but ultimately, God is always right. He sees the end from the beginning.

The second juncture is also common, at the height of our fears, desperation and storms we feel abandoned. This juncture can be illustrated with a beautiful story popularly called “Footprints in the sand.” I’m unable to locate the original owner of the story but I have reproduced it here as seen in a picture frame.

“One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.

“When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.

“This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it: ‘LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me.’

“The LORD replied: ‘My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

In moments when we feel lonely, we should be reminded of the Lord’s saying to us in Matthew 28:20, “…lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I have tried to share some of the things I have been learning and I hope it helps you on your way.

You can reach me on twitter @seunalade