Sometimes, God calls us to go where we’ve never been before, with little or no knowledge, skill or experience we feel we will need for the new challenge. For these times, we can claim the promise found in Isaiah 30:21, “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it when you turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left hand.’” God’s presence, power and guidance does not leave us, nor does the assurance of His will.
Oh, how it stirs our hearts when we read in God’s Word how He called ordinary men and women (who years later would be counted ‘giants of the faith’) to leave their comfort zone and move out into the unknown of God’s will and way. One of the first that comes to mind is Abraham of whom Hebrews 11:8-9 records, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles.”
God has called my wife and me to move to a new state we had never lived in several times in our ministry. I recall one of the earliest was the one that has been the most different from any place we have ever lived. It was a no-brainer to answer the call for God had already revealed to us that was where He wanted us even before I had preached at the church. We were excited and thrilled to be exactly where God wanted us, but in the early days we could relate with Abraham’s feelings of “sojourning in a strange country.” As we look back on that time, we realize at the sixmonth mark, we truly began to feel it was home. The seven years there was a wonderful time of God’s blessings working with some of the sweetest people of God on earth, even with a few challenges along the way.
Joshua experienced the unknown circumstances of God’s will when he stepped into the leadership of the children of Israel as they continued their journey to the Promised Land after the death of Moses. God issued the call to Joshua as found in Joshua 1:2, “Moses My servant is dead; now arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them.” The following verses record astounding promises God gave Joshua of His presence, power and prosperity. In Chapter 3, Verse 4, we find very specific instructions given to God’s people for crossing the Jordan with the reasoning added, “That ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way before.”
When God leads us into new territory in our lives, He provides every need because He is our God and remembers that we “have not passed this way before.” We can trust Him to say, “This is the way, walk ye in it.”
Moses had gone up on the mountain where he received the Ten Commandments, but when he returned to the camp of the Israelites, he found them in gross sin. After judgment fell on the people, Moses prayed for God forgiveness for them. Then he sought God to lead him forward. In Exodus 33:13, his prayer is recorded. “If I have found grace in Thy sight, shew me now Thy way, that I may know Thee.” God’s answer was, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give these rest.” As God leads us through the unknown, we get to know Him in a greater way.
We have this assurance in Psalm 73:24, “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” A favorite verse of mine is one we all can claim, “For this God is our God for ever and ever. He will be our guide even unto death.”
— Randy Zinn is pastor of Russell Missionary Baptist Church, Russell, Ark.; formerly of Okmulgee.
