The bigger picture

The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way? (Proverbs 20:24 NLT)

Do you have to understand everything before you ever undertake the first steps into something new? Too many times, we limit God by having to understand all that he is doing or all that is happening in the moment. He wants us to follow the path he marks out, trusting him as we take each step, knowing he has prepared those steps/events well in advance of us taking that first step.

The more we question, the more we reveal our lack of trust in God. We must trust his guidance and lean into his goodness. He won't ask more of us than he will equip us to do, nor will he ask us to do things that are harmful. He watches over our steps, one by one, until the mission he asks of us is complete. Needing to understand every little thing he is doing isn't realistic. Some of what he does now is for our future - the steps we have yet to take down the road. Without those first steps, there would be no further steps.

No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the Lord. (Proverbs 21:30 NLT)

No human wisdom - we can resist because we don't understand, but to resist God's leading is to put our trust in what has never been proven reliable - SELF. The most unreliable steps we will ever take are those we take based on our own selfish ambition or pride. The more we insist on understanding before we move, the more we declare our independence from God and our lack of trust in what he has prepared for us.

All our human wisdom can do is nothing compared to the steps we take as we trust God. When we don't understand the rationale for those steps, taking them in often going against 'human wisdom'. As small pieces of information are revealed by God, we might look back and see why the former steps were important, but that revelation may not come until we are quite a way into what he asks of us to be doing.

We take the small steps - he reveals a bit more - we take another small step. Believe it or not, the most important thing for us to do is trust. God's timing and his wisdom will reveal what we need to know - maybe not all at first, but we will see the 'bigger picture' somewhere down the road. The obedience we reveal each step of the way will help us to see clearly what we didn't know when we started. Just sayin!