Are You Running Ahead, Lagging Behind, or Going Alongside God?

Sometimes it’s difficult to know God’s will in a matter. We either run ahead or lag behind. But God wants us to keep in step with Him. I wrote this blog a few months after I moved from Maryland 4 years ago. I thought it was appropriate to re-introduce it now since we just began a new year. Actually, I need it too because I am facing some major unknowns and I want to make sure I’m doing God’s will. I hope you do too in whatever you are facing.

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Are you like me? With the tendency to run ahead of God? I am a doer and I have a hard time not doing. Impatience is a continual weak spot in my character as I have confessed before. I’ve worked hard to overcome this trait, and the Lord has given me a lot of victory in this area. So I’ve been especially careful in my new location and church to wait for God’s guidance. I know He will lead me as to how I am to serve specifically in my new setting.

However, there is an issue in which I have swung the pendulum too far in the other direction. Concerning this matter, I need to know what my next step is. And I have been waiting on the Lord to show me. And I’m still waiting. It’s been 3 months now with no new direction.

Is the Lord just teaching me a new level of patience? Perhaps. But recently, during my devotions, it hit me (i.e. the Holy Spirit convicted me) that maybe I wasn’t doing my part completely. I asked myself: “Have I really done all that I can in seeking His will since I have moved?”

If I’m honest—the answer is no.

In my desire not to sin against God by running ahead of Him, I had unintentionally stopped pursuing answers. It’s not that I had totally stopped seeking, but I simply wasn’t putting in all the effort to determine and know God’s will in this matter. I should have realized it sooner since I just wrote a series on that topic of discerning God’s will. But I didn’t. God revealed to me that even though I had not run ahead of Him,

I wasn’t running alongside Him either!

I had been dragging my feet—procrastinating. I was unknowingly in “waiting for God to put a letter in the mail” mode. I wasn’t pursuing wholeheartedly (which is step #5 in my process of determining God’s will). Why? I think because it involved some things that I simply don’t like to do—actually, hate to do. But I must lay these dislikes on the altar in order to get what I will like, and more importantly, what God likes. Psalm 25:14 tells us:

The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

This covenant includes all the specifics for our current and individual situations.^[i] If you and I want to know what our next step(s) should be in a given area, then we must reverently fear God, come to Him in humility and openness, trust that He will show us, and to do so continually and persistently. As the Lord has repeatedly shown me—

There is NO COASTING in our walk with Him.*
We have to put in the effort.

Is there an area where you are dragging your feet in doing your part? Admit it to the Lord and yourself. Then ask God to enable you to do your part. I’m in the process of doing what I know I need to do in my particular issue to actively seek God’s next step for me. Will you?

The result will be joy, peace, and effectiveness because we are walking, running, or waiting with Him!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Heb 12:1)

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So my friend, I pray that you won’t run ahead of God or drag your heels in following His will. Check out the blog series on how to know God’s will. I’m using the proven method God has taught me right now in this current situation. And I am trusting Him to show me like He always has so I’ll be able to walk alongside Him.

Helpful Resources
How to Know God’s Will blog series
How to Be more Patient blog series

* “The Extraordinary Woman” Day 10: Reinvesting No Coasting by Rose Noland

[i]See commenator Matthew Poole https://biblehub.com/commentaries/psalms/25-14.htm

Are You Running Ahead, Lagging Behind, or Going Alongside God?

I wasn’t running alongside Him either!

There is NO COASTING in our walk with Him.*We have to put in the effort.

The result will be joy, peace, and effectiveness because we are walking, running, or waiting with Him!

There is NO COASTING in our walk with Him.*
We have to put in the effort.