What Next?

Chapter 4 – Trust God with Your Life
While reflecting on this topic, What Next, an image depicting the incoherence of life during this crisis came to mind. Visualize a waterspout spewing from the blowhole of a whale. Now, place yourself, positioned on your back, on top of that column of air and water vapor as the water ebbs and flows. Your body moves up and down with the rise and fall of the water. As you lie there, arms flailing, you wonder, Okay, what next? How do I get off this rollercoaster? God has provided comfort through His Word to stabilize us, help quell these fears, and admonish us to trust Him.
While reading a devotional, The Joshua Code by O.S. Hawkins, I encountered a quote that resonated with me. Hawkins (2012) posited, “One of the most important things a personal vision can bring is [purpose and] direction to our lives” (p. 93). Presence of vision causes you to see how all of life’s events are connected. Absence of vision causes all of life’s occurrences to appear to be random, disjointed events. A lack of direction and purpose in life results in haphazard decisions. Romans 8:28 reminds us, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
There is nothing haphazard in God. He causes all things to work for our benefit; we must simply trust Him. This study has enabled me to better understand how the things that are currently happening connect with the future. Hopefully, you are beginning to have clarity of vision, as well. Presence of vision brings stability.
Psalm 37:3 says, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.” This reminds us of the importance of trusting God with our lives—trusting that as He gives vision, He will make provision for its manifestation. Once we trust, then we must dwell. Dwell means to rest and find safety in where we are. We are exactly where God wants us to be at this particular time in our lives. There is no other place that you are supposed to be. Come to grips with that, begin to rest in it, and trust that God has everything under control.
The latter part of that verse tells us to feed on His faithfulness. We feed on His faithfulness by making a regular diet of the Word of God. Remind yourself of what God has done in the past and of those things that He is yet doing. Meditating on how God has come through in the past and examining the Scriptures regarding His promises cause us to grow in strength, clarity, and in our knowledge of what God is doing in our lives.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” When we delight in Him, we find pleasure. We maintain our joy, reveling in our relationship with Him. God, in turn, promises to give us the desires of our heart. We are reminded in 1 John 5:15, “And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” As we make requests of God, rest assured that He is listening and has direction and guidance for our lives.
Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” Reflect on the character of God—faithful, honest, all-powerful, loving. What God has purposed for your life will come into fruition. God’s integrity is above reproach. If He said it, then we can have total confidence in what He said. We must be willing to commit our way to Him.
Questions may arise within regarding your current direction: Is this really the right thing? The natural mind can cause doubt. However, if we have committed our way to the Lord, we must trust that He is guiding us in the right direction for this phase of our lives. Perhaps you are enrolled in a class or attending a workshop. You may have even had a job change. Whatever it is, commit your life’s direction to the Lord, trusting that He is working all things together for your good.
The latter part of Psalm 37:5 declares, “He shall bring it to pass.” Know that the vision that He has given for your life will become manifest. He will bring it into fruition. Trust the process. Total commitment to Him means that we have no doubt in what God is doing. When doubt arises, ask God for clarification: “Okay, God. I need reassurance that I am going in the right direction.” God will do just that. He does not want us walking around in limbo.
Remember that Malachi 3:12 reveals that God desires His children to be viewed as “a delightsome land.” The world marvels as they observe how He blesses us, causing our lives to be in order. This becomes a reality only if we are trusting God’s leadership. Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.” God delights in the way of the good man. God delights in your way. God delights in the path He has charted for your life.