God Knows the Way for You
By Ryan Dawson
There is something profound about being able to trust God when life takes a turn you didn’t expect. It is easy to say, “I trust God,” when life is going well—when the bills are paid, the diagnosis is good, the family is healthy, the future looks promising and our plans seem to be unfolding just as we hoped.
But what happens when life doesn’t go according to plan? What happens when the thing we prayed would change doesn’t change? When the door we hoped would open remains closed? When serving God becomes costly? When we find ourselves confused, discouraged, disappointed or simply exhausted?
That is where faith becomes real. Real faith says, “God, I trust you even when I don’t understand what you are doing.”
I have been reflecting on Paul’s words from our message last Sunday about the cost of serving Jesus:
2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (NLT) We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
Paul was able to remain faithful and resilient in the midst of such harrowing circumstances because he knew that his circumstances did not determine God’s presence. He could be pressed, perplexed, hunted and knocked down, but he was never abandoned. Paul knew that the power sustaining him was not his own strength but the presence and power of God at work within him.
And that is an important reminder for us. God has never promised that following Jesus will mean an easy life, or that we will get answers to all our questions. He has promised is something even more significant: He will be with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. Even when we cannot understand what He is doing, we can trust that He is faithful and that He knows the way ahead.
I think Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood this in a deeply personal way. Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who courageously opposed the Nazi regime. He was arrested in 1943 and imprisoned without knowing what the future would hold. During his imprisonment, he wrote prayers and reflections that reveal a remarkable honesty about his own weakness, fear and uncertainty, while at the same time expressing a deep confidence in the presence of God.
I read one of his prayers this week and it really resonated with me:
O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray; and to concentrate my thoughts on you;
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness, but with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me. . . .
Restore me to liberty, and enable me to live now that I may answer before you and before men.
Lord, whatever this day may bring, your name be praised.
Amen. — Prayer from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Germany, 1906–1945)
Those words “I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me” are especially powerful because Bonhoeffer was praying them while his own future was deeply uncertain. He did not know how his story would end. He did not know whether he would be released from prison, or even what the next day would bring. But he did know God.
Bonhoeffer was eventually executed by the Nazis in April 1945, just weeks before the end of the Second World War. He went to his death with confidence in a God whose ways he could not always understand but whose presence he could always trust.
And perhaps that is the word you need to hear today. I know I do. You may not understand what God is doing in your life right now. You may not understand why the door has remained closed, why the prayer has not yet been answered, why the season has become so difficult, or why the path ahead looks so different from what you had imagined.
But you do not need to understand the way if you know the One who does. God knows the way for you. He sees what you cannot see. He knows what you do not know. He is present in places you have not yet arrived, and He is faithful even when your circumstances make His faithfulness difficult to see.
My prayer today is a simple one, and I invite you to pray it with me…
“Lord, I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me. Help me to trust you. Help me to keep walking and to remain faithful. And whatever this day may bring, may your name be praised.”
Whatever you are facing today, trust God. Not because you understand everything or because you know how everything will turn out, but because God knows the way for you.
Grace & Peace, Ryan
There is something profound about being able to trust God when life takes a turn you didn’t expect. It is easy to say, “I trust God,” when life is going well—when the bills are paid, the diagnosis is good, the family is healthy, the future looks promising and our plans seem to be unfolding just as we hoped.
But what happens when life doesn’t go according to plan? What happens when the thing we prayed would change doesn’t change? When the door we hoped would open remains closed? When serving God becomes costly? When we find ourselves confused, discouraged, disappointed or simply exhausted?
That is where faith becomes real. Real faith says, “God, I trust you even when I don’t understand what you are doing.”
I have been reflecting on Paul’s words from our message last Sunday about the cost of serving Jesus:
2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (NLT) We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
Paul was able to remain faithful and resilient in the midst of such harrowing circumstances because he knew that his circumstances did not determine God’s presence. He could be pressed, perplexed, hunted and knocked down, but he was never abandoned. Paul knew that the power sustaining him was not his own strength but the presence and power of God at work within him.
And that is an important reminder for us. God has never promised that following Jesus will mean an easy life, or that we will get answers to all our questions. He has promised is something even more significant: He will be with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. Even when we cannot understand what He is doing, we can trust that He is faithful and that He knows the way ahead.
I think Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood this in a deeply personal way. Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who courageously opposed the Nazi regime. He was arrested in 1943 and imprisoned without knowing what the future would hold. During his imprisonment, he wrote prayers and reflections that reveal a remarkable honesty about his own weakness, fear and uncertainty, while at the same time expressing a deep confidence in the presence of God.
I read one of his prayers this week and it really resonated with me:
O God, early in the morning I cry to you.
Help me to pray; and to concentrate my thoughts on you;
I cannot do this alone.
In me there is darkness, but with you there is light;
I am lonely, but you do not leave me;
I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;
I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;
I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me. . . .
Restore me to liberty, and enable me to live now that I may answer before you and before men.
Lord, whatever this day may bring, your name be praised.
Amen. — Prayer from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Germany, 1906–1945)
Those words “I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me” are especially powerful because Bonhoeffer was praying them while his own future was deeply uncertain. He did not know how his story would end. He did not know whether he would be released from prison, or even what the next day would bring. But he did know God.
Bonhoeffer was eventually executed by the Nazis in April 1945, just weeks before the end of the Second World War. He went to his death with confidence in a God whose ways he could not always understand but whose presence he could always trust.
And perhaps that is the word you need to hear today. I know I do. You may not understand what God is doing in your life right now. You may not understand why the door has remained closed, why the prayer has not yet been answered, why the season has become so difficult, or why the path ahead looks so different from what you had imagined.
But you do not need to understand the way if you know the One who does. God knows the way for you. He sees what you cannot see. He knows what you do not know. He is present in places you have not yet arrived, and He is faithful even when your circumstances make His faithfulness difficult to see.
My prayer today is a simple one, and I invite you to pray it with me…
“Lord, I do not understand your ways, but you know the way for me. Help me to trust you. Help me to keep walking and to remain faithful. And whatever this day may bring, may your name be praised.”
Whatever you are facing today, trust God. Not because you understand everything or because you know how everything will turn out, but because God knows the way for you.
Grace & Peace, Ryan