I know, it's a bit corny and cliche... A fork in the road. *smile*God loves to help us clearly see our options. Turn right or turn left. Blessings or curses. Good or evil. Black or white.
Life often doesn't feel like it's black or white, rather it seems to be grayscale -- trying to navigate priorities, balance commitments, and choose the lesser of various evils. In the gray, there's not much room for conviction. My mind can see validity in various perspectives -- and often seems most comfortable in the worst ones!
But from God's vantage point, all perspectives are not equally valid. He is right and everyone else is wrong. But He does not hold that against us. Instead, He graciously and generously gives wisdom to all who seek Him with all their hearts (Jer. 29:13, James 1:5).
So I'm praying that God will bring me to those points of conviction, that He will show me where my ways aren't lining up with His, and that I will understand what I need to change to be more of who God made me to be. Confusion takes over when I'm trying to figure things out on my own. The world becomes gray, neither black nor white, neither hopeless nor exciting, neither right nor wrong. But when I stop trying to figure things out on my own, and really ask God for His thoughts and His conviction (Matt. 5:6), then He is faithful to show me.
God gave Ezekiel and Jeremiah each a fork in the road (Jer. 1, Ez. 2). My very rough translation of what He said to each of them: "If you speak what I tell you to, then I'll strengthen you to do it. You'll face opposition, but you'll win in the end. But if you give into your fear and don't go for it, then your fears will come true and you'll end up afraid of your own shadow."
When I'm gung-ho-obedient-going-for-it-with-all-I've-got, then I feel God strengthening me and energizing me. But when I start to lean back, I find a bottomless pit that quickly swallows me up. The fork in the road that God is showing me has less to do with circumstances (i.e. what should I eat for lunch?), and more to do with attitude (i.e. am I aggressively seeking to do what I already know God wants me to do?).
I heard an old voice call out to me this week. When the day came to jump back into work, my flesh grumbled and complained. But I quickly felt convicted. Sweating and suffering for Jesus is the greatest honor of our lives! Here are some verses I've been holding onto: