The Next Step

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” — Psalm 37:23 (KJV)

Meyer’s fifth step is the hardest for many of us: wait for God’s plan to unfold.

He says God guides through three things: impressions inside us from the Holy Spirit, his Word in the Bible, and providence, meaning how circumstances work out around us. We should wait until all three point the same way.

Waiting is hard, especially when everyone is telling you to decide now. Meyer reminds us of Israel at the Red Sea, with the Egyptian army behind them, cliffs on either side and the sea in front. It looked as if they had to do something. But God told them to stand still and see his salvation.

He also mentions King Saul, who got tired of waiting for the prophet Samuel and offered a sacrifice himself. Meyer calls it “the great mistake of his life.”

Meyer’s simple rule is this:

“If you do not know what you ought to do, stand still until you do.”

And when the time comes, he says, the circumstances will begin to line up, like lights multiplying as a train at night gets closer to a town. You will become sure.

Then Meyer says something very reassuring. We often think God isn’t guiding us because we can’t see far ahead. But that isn’t how God works. He promises to order our steps, not to show us the whole map.

“Not the next mile, but the next yard. Not the whole pattern, but the next stitch in the canvas.”

You might not know what you’ll do after school, or where you’ll be in ten years. That’s OK. God hasn’t promised to show you that yet. He has promised to guide your next step. Take it, and trust him for the one after.

Meyer ends this chapter with his own testimony: “after months of waiting and prayer, I have become absolutely sure of the Guidance of my heavenly Father.”

One thing to do this week: if you are anxious about the future, write down just the next step you know to take, this week or today. Do that step, and pray: “Lord, I trust you for the step after this one.”