Day 2646 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Romans 8:28 NIV

Completely letting go and trusting in the unseen is arguably one of the biggest challenges when it comes to a life of faith. We've been talking quite a bit about how we instinctually want life to go our way. We become consumed with our dreams and desires, and we reach this point where we think we have to stay in control of our lives in order to make those dreams come true so that we ensure those desires are fulfilled. And letting go just won't work because then who's to say that we'll end up getting everything we've always wanted?

That's where push comes to shove in a life of faith. Are we going to go all in or are we going to stand at the outset and wonder what could have been? Are we going to actually surrender everything we have, everything we are, and everything we want to God's will that we can in no way influence or alter? Is our version of perfection really worth missing out on what God could lead us to instead through our willingness to offer Him hearts that are fully sold out to His will rather than our own?

I think what makes it even harder to keep going down the road of faith is that God's plans often go much differently than our own. That's what we've been discussing here lately. On the surface, our plans look perfect. After all, we've spent years plotting and planning and perfecting those plans so that they always go just right. We sit around and daydream about these ideal lives free from hardship and trial and that always wind smoothly along right to where we want to be.

God's path doesn't go like that!

God's path is often through the desert. His plans lead us through storms and out onto the water. His ways calls us to go where we'd never choose to go to do what we'd never dream of doing all according to His will that often contrasts sharply with our own. God's path is filled with countless difficulties that could each be the straw the breaks the camel's back and send us running back to the comfort found in that mindset that lets us think we're controlling things. And we know just how badly we crave comfort in life!

So what are we to do? People love the promises of faith. They love the idea of salvation and freedom and these eternal hopes which are found in Christ. But the road there isn't always what folks are looking for. It's often quite the opposite. Who wants to step out of a perfectly good boat onto the water where we know in our minds that we'll sink? Who is going to venture into this sea that's miraculously spread apart knowing that it could come crashing down to our demise at any moment?

It's scary. It's all scary. It's all this path of uncertainty that is often excruciatingly hard to continue following because it's nowhere near as easy or smooth or comfortable as we would like it to be. But still, what other choice do we have? It's rather simple really. Keep going or give up. As brutal or painfully honest or downright mean as that may sound, that's our choices. We either commit our lives to following Christ in the faithful trust that He really is with us and will in fact be there to help us every step of the way, or we succumb to the more natural desire to avoid struggle and strife and run back to those easy lives of ignoring the thought of things like eternity and salvation and right vs. wrong.

What I want you to keep in mind though is what this verse reminds us. Even when God's path doesn't seem good, we can trust that it is leading to something good. Even when His road is hard and painful and requires us to takes these leaps of faith into a kind of uncertainty that is more unsettling and scarier than we'd ever want it to be, it is still for our good. Even when we can't see where He's leading us or how it can all possibly work around to something good, He says it will and He has shown Himself to be faithful time and time again in our lives.

Friends, what's good and what's easy are often different things. We want them to be the same, but that doesn't mean they are. God's plan for our lives isn't the dream that we may have spent years perfecting. It may in fact lead us away from everything we've ever known or wanted, but again, that's the choice we have to make. Just remember that when weighing those options as we make that decision, God's plans are the only ones that are truly for our best. While our plans may seem perfect, they only seem perfect because they're based on what we want. And let's be honest, we're more than willing to compromise on what's best if it means getting what we want.

Thankfully, God won't. He won't settle for good enough as long as it means we're comfortable. He won't give up on leading us to what is absolutely best just because the road is hard and requires pruning and refining us through the fire of faith. His way may not be the easiest, and it definitely won't be the most comfortable, but it will always be for our good. If we're living our lives to bring Him glory and fulfill His purpose in us, then everything will work out just as it should. If our hearts are set on following Him and surrendered to His will, then everything will work out for our good.

Please don't run from a life of faith just because it's hard. If we could learn to see the necessity of those difficulties in our faith as the work of God making us stronger and leading us closer to Him then we could maybe see that even those hard days and painful seasons are actually for our good. We could maybe learn to trust Him more and more during those rainy days because we know that His rain makes us grow. We could maybe come to realize that His will for us will always be better than our own because His will is truly for nothing but our good while our will is only for our temporary gain and comfort.

So just trust Him. Please just trust Him. It's going to be hard. At times it will be scary. There will be moments where nothing makes sense and we want nothing more than to flee back to the lives of comfort that we left behind. But if we quit then we'll never see the fulfillment of His promises. All we'll be left with is a whole lot of wondering about what could have been had we had the courage to follow Him into the fire and see the reason for it on the other side. Do not short-change yourself. Give Him a chance to lead you to where your easier and more comfortable path could never possibly go.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold