Sometimes we are led by God through following a trail of bread crumbs, they are strategically placed so that we know where to go. Other times He will speak to us, telling us where to go, turn left, turn right, go straight on. At these times He often will only tell you when you get to the point where you need to decide, other times He will gently remind you as you go along until you gain confidence. Then there are the occasions when you need to know what path to take, He may stay silent, more likely He asks ‘which one do you want to go down?’, this may be because there is no wrong path and you can see that they will probably end up at the same point, other times it is more of a test.
A test isn’t necessarily a pass or fail, God never intends you to be a failure, to miss the mark, He dealt with all failure on the cross through Jesus and now sees you as a success. He wants to show you how far you have come, to celebrate. However He only sees you growing and may well want to help upgrade you through a series of events, circumstances and choices you make. He is constantly teaching, guiding and instructing you through the intimate work of His Holy Spirit.
Many decisions we make are not wrong, they just take us on a unnecessary detour, our final destination is secure but will miss out on the adventure and the opportunity. They can be distractions that pull us away from our purpose, from His purposes. I can fill my life with so many things, all of them completely safe, good, wholesome and even justifiable. The only slight fly in the ointment is that they are not really what He wants for you. He has much bigger, grander plans for you, in fact you cannot have a bigger plan for your life than the one He has laid out before Him in heaven.
Your job is to find out, to peer over His shoulder and see what He is looking at when He is musing over the plans and purposes. You are part of His master plan and you can see quite clearly that you are part of it, in fact to you it suddenly seems that not only are you an integral part of it but that you actually get the sense that it might not even work if you don’t play your part. It looks to you that you are a vital, indispensable part of the whole campaign.
However to see this master plan, to get to see it peering over His shoulder you have to get close, very close. This is where you come in, He is happy for you to be there, He loves it when you take an interest in what interests Him, He wants you to learn the family business, He wants you to take over your role as you mature, as you grow in favour. He is preparing you to receive your inheritance. This is true father son relationship.