This might sound a little wacky, and if it does, try to get past the wackiness to see the greater point. But yesterday morning I met with a group of new friends who have a Thursday morning prayer group. Like many people who are sincerely trying to do what God wants them to do with their lives, I would say that overall, my prayer life has been inconsistent at best. Probably closer to poor. Hopefully that’s beginning to change. And yesterday, I happened into an experience that although seemingly insignificant at first, could end up have a tremendous effect on my life. And if I’m doing this right, anything that has a tremendous effect on my life will wind up having a tremendous effect on others’ lives.
We were walking around a huge basketball gym with a bunch of courts all lined up together. As we walked, we took turns praying out loud. We prayed for each other. We prayed for our families and ourselves. We even prayed over the basketball court, that the people who came to play on it would be blessed and that the time they spent on those courts would change their lives forever. I’d never done anything like this before, and it was really good. Peaceful even. Then one of the guys fired up an iPad and started playing a song. I didn’t know the song, but it was a pretty good worship-type song, and I closed my eyes while I was walking.
After I took about 4-5 steps I was about to open my eyes, to make sure I didn’t crash into a wall or something. But just before I opened them, I stopped. It was as if God was telling me, “keep your eyes closed, just keep walking and following the music”. Wacky, I know. I told you that already. But I obeyed. I kept walking and following the music, part of me really wanting to open my eyes so that I could see and know I was safe. But that’s when it hit me, as God showed me something about how much I depend on myself to feel safe, rather than trusting Him.
I resolved to not open my eyes and to keep following the sound of the music until it stopped. When it finally did, right before I finally opened up my eyes, I tried to guess where in the room I was. Wouldn’t you know it, I was literally in the complete opposite corner from where I had guessed. We’re talking a good 200 feet away from where I’d predicted. I feel like the Lord showed me something about trust that day. In an everyday way, I got to experience the struggle of walking by faith not by sight. And I got to see that when we do walk by faith rather than by sight, we can end up somewhere that we never would have guessed. At the end of the day, the question is, who am I trusting to guide my steps? Do I want to trust myself, with my incomplete, biased and flawed view of reality, or do I trust the Creator of the universe, who knows all things actual and possible for eternity?
We’re all following someone or something. We kid ourselves if we think we’re not. So if I’m in a position of leading others, who or what am I leading them toward? Where are we going? What’s our plan to get there?