Let me see it!
By Rev. William Dohle
"There are signs everywhere!" Matthew Perry's character declares in the classic 1990's film, "Fools Rush In!" After declaring his disbelief in signs, he is bombarded with things that point him in the direction he needs to be going.
Sometimes I wish God spoke so clearly to me. Sometimes I wish there really were signs that told me things like what school should I send my kids to or how should we spend our summer. Or even more complex things like where God was and what God was doing in my life.
Sometimes I wish God were that clear.
Like how clear he was for the Israelites as they wandered the wilderness. For all the hardship they must have faced, one thing they never had to wonder about... Where is God?
God appeared in a cloud over the tabernacle during the day and in a pillar of fire at night.
God would instruct them when to move and when to stay. If the cloud moved...they moved. If the cloud stayed...they stayed.
Such a simple, easy way of living. All you needed to do was what God told you to. And everyone knew what God wanted based on where the cloud was!
It's not that simple today. Today we wander around aimlessly sometimes, searching for where to go and what to do.
After high school... do I go to college or a trade school? Should I join the military? A band? Should I live at home or find my own place?
After college... should I get married or not? How desperate am I for a relationship? Should I date? And who? Where will I live? Where would I work? What would I like to do with my life?
In life... how many kids should we have? Where should they go to school? Should I take this new job opportunity or not?
After retirement...do I find another job? Stay home? Where do I volunteer at or do I volunteer anywhere?
These are all questions of direction! Questions of purpose and place.
How easy would it be if God's direction was as simple as a cloud over your head. Move and follow. That's all you'd have to do is move and follow.
There is a process of determining where God might be calling us. That process is called discernment. Here we think about our options and then pray about them. After a time of prayer and scripture reading, we make our decision, praying that it's the right one.
There are no voices heard in discernment. No clouds over our heads or over our churches. But a decision is made and then put in the hands of God.
We always say we've followed God's call after we've gone through discernment...but have we? We say after we've discerned a decision that God lead us there. We say we're following God. But we have no cloud to follow, no pillar of fire before us. Our discernment could very well be our own subconscious yearnings manifesting themselves. We think we're following God when we're following ourselves.
How do we know for certain?
Maybe we should ask ourselves this question: If left on my own, would I have made this decision? Of all these options, which of them if God actually physically chose it for me would I be adverse to? Which of them is serving me? And which of them is serving God and my neighbor?
That would be one way to follow after God's cloud and fire. After consulting with Scripture and through prayer ask ourselves, "Is this God calling me out of my comfort zone or me driving me back into it?"
The Holy Spirit still leads us, I believe, into the wilderness and places we otherwise wouldn't go. God still goes ahead of us guiding the way. We just have to look up and pay attention to where he is or where he's gone.
Holy Spirit, guide me, direct me, and lead me into your pathways, for Jesus sake. Amen.
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