Don't Wait on God

You stand in a large room. In front of you lie 5 doors. Each with different shapes, decorations, and sizes, but all appealing for different reasons. Do you boldly choose one and walk through it? Or like me do you sit down on the stool in the center of the room and pray that the Lord would open one in particular for you? Or that you'd hear a soothing sound come from one in particular that would urge you forwards? But instead you hear nothing, and see nothing… just those same 5 doors in front of you. And thus decide, that in this moment we should "wait on the Lord" and stay sitting in our chair. Doing nothing.

What if the notion of "waiting on God" is instead a trap we fall into. Being willing to wait for Him to move in His own time instead of ours is a virtue indeed, but I often use that as an excuse to simply not make a decision. Is not the Lord big enough to turn a misguided step done in good faith into something wonderful?

Are we too caught up in our goal of taking perfect steps and avoiding all failure when what the Lord really wants is a servant willing to try, fail, and be accepting of correction? For what better way is there for the Lord to test us? To see and to show how much we have become like Him: how we think as He thinks, share His character, extend His love, and offer His grace and mercy.

Afterall, you only find out "how well you can walk or ride a bike" once your parents let go—Trusting they'll catch you if you fall. Imagine how slow you'd "ride your bike" if your dad had to always hold on (if you can even call it riding a bike). I think I'd see those professional cyclists and begin to think they had a screw loose.

Are we the infamous servant?

Think back to the parable of talents and how the man with one talent spoke:

Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours. Matthew 25:24

Is not the infamous servant saying "Master, I fear failure and making a single mistake with what you have given, for fear of punishment by you. I know you not to be loving enough to see earnest efforts without a material payoff, that instead I found it best to simply give it back to you once you came back". Isn't that what I end up saying to the Lord when I choose to sit on that stool in the middle of the room instead of choosing a door to walk through?

Would perhaps The Master have been far more pleased, had the one servant lost the entire talent in trying his absolute best in trying to grow it? And upon the Master returning, explained his story and sought guidance on where he went wrong?

Maybe the "correct" decision doesn't exist. Maybe praying that the Lord shows you the perfect path to take is what C.S. Lewis would refer to as a nonsense question. One that is impossible to answer because we simply would not be able to comprehend it until we have chosen to walk through any of those 5 doors. I know I certainly would have balked at the Lord telling me I'd end up here in San Diego after having just gotten a house in Denver. Yet here I am. Think back to your own life and experiences… don't many mysteries unfold once you've made a decision of any kind?

Perhaps the "correct" decision is taking a step in the direction that, to the best of our ability to think and act like a son of God, we see fit… and being exceptionally receptive and willing to do a 180 if the Lord asks us to.

So this room I find myself in, I feel its time to stand up from the stool and choose a door and walk through it confidently. And know that now that I have taken the first step on the adventure I have the distinct joy of getting to listen for, each step of the way, his voice to say "just a bit more that way". Now that it's not hidden and muffled behind a door I didn't trust him enough to open myself.