Tales From The Trailhead – Part 3: Where’s The Path?

     “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”  Romans 1:21
     I ventured out, off of the pathway, in pursuit of another trail, up on a rise.  That meant cutting out across terrain that had vegetation growing up past my knees.  I was steeled up to do so, point of destination in view.  My buddy, was skeptical, but he followed pace.  We trekked on through the unseen ground, not quite knowing what might lie beneath, being as attentive as possible.  It was quite an experience just to cut across the terrain, thinking of how our ancestors would voyage across untamed land, without any paths to follow.  I was in hog heaven!
     The hogs, however, were not in hog heaven.  As I was focusing on where I was going, I noticed that Ryan had stopped moving and was urgently requesting that we backtrack and vacate the area.  It was at that point that I noticed the rustling of the underbrush and grunting sounds.  Still a little distance away from us, a mother hog was shuffling her younglings away from the “intruders”.  As we were walking in the opposite direction from the little porker family, I felt no threat.  Ryan was not as assured as I was.  He still wanted to turn back, even though the hog family was moving further and further away from us.  Considering that Ryan had spent less time being in this kind of outdoor environment, I eventually conceded (not that I wanted to).  So, we turned back and found a different direction on the marked trail. 
     How does this relate to Paul’s writing in the book of Romans?  Simply put, many want to see everything divine in front of them.  They expect to see what is ahead, on the pathway.  In doing so, THEY try to define what God really is.  They have already decided that they need to be in control of every aspect of their earthly life; they need to control the divine as well.  They create the pathway ahead of them saying, “This is God’s path.  He is all accepting to everyone (even though they refuse to follow His teachings) and all we have to do is acknowledge His existence.”  Yes, they acknowledge His existence…. on THEIR OWN TERMS. 
     You might have heard the term “blind faith”.  It is true and is spoken about, more than once in the Bible:
    “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Hebrews 11:1

     “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:16-18

God has commanded many of His disciples to “go here” or “go there” and they simply trusted Him enough to obey.  It didn’t mean that they may have had moments of uncertainty in the direction they were asked to take.  However, their faith in the Father was stronger, allowing them to continue on. 

     God WILL give us clear directions to follow an unseen direction.  You might even be able to see the destination, but the route to take may not be preferable.  God knows what He is doing and we need to be willing to cast aside those fears and control enough to be willing to step off into an unseen path, when He expects us to.  Where He leads, I will follow.