“Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
The last several years have been full of some tough personal reflection. To be honest, there is a lot I wish I could change about myself. Something in particular I've noticed is my desire for total control over my life.
If you had called me a control freak five years ago I would have responded, "You're crazy!" But the truth is that I actually am and I didn't even realize it until I encountered varying circumstances that were totally beyond my control.
I would grasp for it, I would ask for it, I would bargain with God for it. But He continued to lead me down a road that required total surrender.
During this season, the only thing, and I do mean the only thing, that would bring me peace was my momentary ability to pull my brain out of the pit of destruction to remember that God holds the future in His hands.
Listen, I know that sounds a little "Sunday school" for some of you, and it did for me too. But when you lack all control over what happens next in your life, you have no choice but to believe God, and I mean really believe Him, for peace to take over.
God brought me to a point where I finally became desperate enough to recognize the idol of control I held so dear. And instead of being a God who likes to whisper, "I told you so," He is kind, tender, generous and good. He whispers instead, "Be strong and courageous… the Lord is with you wherever you go."
God knows what is on the other side of whatever you're going through. Not only does He know what your future holds, but He is already there. And when we arrive at whatever future scenario waits for us, He will be there just as He is today.
As you navigate what's before you today, let me encourage you to remember that the Lord will go before you.
He will never leave you.
He holds your future in His hands.
He has good plans for your life.
He has a purpose written out just for you.
He loves you and, as this passage says, will never leave you.
He will be with you wherever the future takes you - and He already knows where that is.