Cliff Jumping

Have you ever felt like you just didn't know what comes next? You path was clear to a certain point and you are now past that point and you don't know what the next step is? That is what I feel right now. Like I am on the edge of a cliff, unsure if I step out if a bridge will appear to guide me to my next goal, if I will grow wings and fly over it all or if I will fall.

I keep asking myself, as a Christian, what am I suppose to do when I feel this way. There are numerous scriptures that come to mind, "Lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make you paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6). This is a great verse, but what happens when the path is not being made straight? What if it feels like you climbed this tall, hard, mountain only to be met with a cliff and the path disappears over the edge?

Maybe this is where the wisdom from Job comes in, "Why is life given to a man whose path is hidden, whom God has hedged in?" (3:23). If you are not familiar, Job was a righteous man that God allowed Satan to test. This testing included Job losing everything, his wealth, his children which in those days would be his future, and his physical health. The entire book of Job is really a book of trying to process what happens when you do everything right and God allows bad things to happen to you. In the end, Job is restored and doubly blessed, but he didn't know that in his process.

Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob, didn't choose his path either. His brothers shoved him in a pit and then sold him into slavery. Then his slave owners wife lied and Joseph landed himself in prison with a life sentence. In all those circumstances, Joseph must have had to process how as he kept submitting to God's will and authority, it kept getting him in darker and darker places. He didn't know how the end of his story turned out in the middle as he sat behind bars. He didn't know that one day Pharaoh would have a dream and he would be the one to offer interpretation which landed him as number 2 in all the land. He didn't know that one day his brothers would walk through the door and he would have the dreams of his childhood fulfilled in an instant. What do you do while you wait for the promises of God to be fulfilled?

I am just in the middle, maybe even nearing the end of a season where God has called me to be faithful even when I couldn't see what was coming next. My season has gone from bad to worse, and none of it is my fault. I still do not see how this journey ends, but I will choose to believe that like Job and Joseph, everything that was meant for evil will be used by God for good.

This is where hope comes in. My working definition as I research and study hope (for my final research paper for my B.S. in Psychology as well as my personal word of the year) is the confident expectation of what God has promised. God has given me many promises, they are found in the pages of his love letter to me. We know that no weapon formed against us will prosper, we know that we are blessed when we hunger and thirst for righteousness because we will be filled and when we are persecuted, insulted, and even falsely accused because our reward is in heaven.

I guess, the answer to my cliff situation is simply remember that in the span of my eternal existence, this is but a short and momentary situation. It is hard and painful, and feels like anything but momentary but it means that I will appreciate the rewards of perseverance in the coming kingdom all the more as I consider it all joy that Christ thought I was worthy to share in his sufferings. Eternal perspective means that what seems like a cliff is actually an opportunity to count it all joy. Another chance to live in this earthly kingdom as an ambassador of heaven and show others what heaven is like and invite them to come with me.