I suck at anything that has to do with reversing while driving; I don’t know why it is so difficult for me. I have been driving for about 10 years now, but reversing isn’t my strongest suit. My cousin once told me that, I could never drive a get-away car; I had gotten a new car and was yet to have it registered.
There was no license plate on it, and I could get in a lot of trouble, driving it around like that in Nigeria. So that particular day, we spotted the cops, and she asked me to reverse all the way to the back and make a sharp turn so the police wouldn't see us. Then I started struggling with reversing the car and eventually gave up, thankfully they did not spot us.
My reversing game is so bad that someone had to ask me one time if they don’t reverse cars in the US. Maybe because I lived in a small town while I was in the US, my driving skill was not often challenged. Moving back to Nigeria has not made this “defect” any better. They expect you to parallel park, or reverse park all the time. Anytime I get somewhere and figure out the parking situation, and see that it requires reverse parking, I just ignore the spot altogether.
One day I got to church, and noticed a tight spot, and told the person who usually directs people to park (yea we need those in Lagos), that I wasn’t going to be able to park there. I asked him to help me to park my car, but he refused and asked me to follow his direction instead. I still insisted, and he said no, arguing that if I followed his direction to the T, then I would be able to reverse park without any issues.
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At that point, I couldn’t argue anymore and just agreed to follow him. Then he started with his directing; move forward, turn your steering wheel this way, move back, turn the wheel in that direction, and so on. I have never followed someone’s directing so closely, and when he was done, I was parked perfectly. I was all smiles (as usual); I had this sense of fulfillment that I had achieved something. All I needed to do in that situation was to trust the one who was giving the directions, and I got to a perfect place. This now brings me to today’s topic, following God’s direction.
I think the issue some of us have today when it comes to following God's lead, is that we don't trust Him completely. We know He is God, and He is good, but when it comes to our personal lives because we can't see where He may want to take us, we refuse to follow Him. Following God has a lot to do with faith, blind faith. We have to learn to follow Him blindly to wherever He is leading us because He already has everything mapped out. He has gone ahead of us and assessed every situation that we may ever encounter; He knows the end from the beginning. There is nothing that we would ever come across in this life that would come as a shocker to Him.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” David (Psalm 119:105)
What does following God’s direction look like?
For us to know what direction God may be taking us, we have to get acquainted with His word. We cannot claim to follow God if we don’t spend time studying the word of God. When you study God’s word, things become clearer to you, and God gives you divine direction and wisdom. You can never follow God’s word and find yourself in a place of darkness. That is why David says that His words are the lamp to his feet and light to his pathways. It’s like when you are studying the word of God each day; God brings clarity about where you are going. Things begin to make more sense, you are encouraged to see that He speaks through His words, and He is speaking directly to your situation.
“I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you” (Psalm 32:9)
If only we can trust in Him completely, and follow Him blindly, even when we can’t tell where He is taking us, then we will end up in the best scenarios for our lives. In Psalm 32:9, God is saying that if we choose to follow Him, He will lead us to a place we haven't even dreamt of. If we follow His advice, we would never go wrong. There were times and times again, when God told people, like Abraham to arise and follow Him to a place where He would show Him.
These great men and women in the bible dropped everything they were doing and just followed God, like little children. The life He led them to, was way better than the ones they were living. Even in the new testament, when Jesus was picking out His disciples, He just saw men and told them to follow Him and they did. Their lives now became lives that were full of adventures, something they would have never experienced if they chose to continue in life as they knew it.
Why we should follow God’s direction
“Let them alone, they are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall in a ditch.” Jesus (Matthew 15:14)
He knows what He is doing; I remember watching an episode of Friends when Ross was trying to direct Rachel and Chandler to move a huge couch he had just purchased. They were trying to get it up the stairs but the space was too small. Ross being their leader kept on giving them directions. He said to them, “Just follow my lead” then he began; “Left, up, pivot (rotate), pivot pivot!” and they got stuck. Rachel then mistakenly pulled the fire alarm, and everyone freaked out from the apartment building and started running out.
Because of the possibility of a fire, they made their way down the stairs, and trampled the couch, with Ross screaming in the background “this is a new couch!” of course no one paid him any mind. The couch ended up getting destroyed and he had to return it to the store. We can conclude that Ross was blind so to speak, and he did not know that the couch was too large to make it up that small space. He was the blind leading the blind, for the purposes of this post. God knows exactly what He is doing, if He says go right, He means right, if He says go left, He means left.
Even if at the time you may not make sense of the directions He is giving you, one thing I know for sure is that you will not end up destroyed and trampled on, like the couch was in that episode of friends, because God knows the end from the beginning. That is why He is also referred to as the First and the Last in the bible, and also the Beginning and the End among a host of many other names He has. We have to realize that God has the best plans for our lives. That which He is telling us to give up now and completely follow Him is nothing compared to what we would gain if we oblige Him.
Just as the man, at the beginning of this post asked me to trust him and follow his lead, because he was confident in his ability to lead me and as a result, I was able to park perfectly that day, (trust me others have tried to lead me, but it didn’t work out. It’s either I was a bad follower or they were bad instructors, ha-ha), that is how God wants us to trust in Him completely and follow Him because He knows what He is doing.
Hope this post has given you reasons why you should trust and follow God completely because He will never lead you astray. Are you learning to trust God in this season of your life? Is it difficult or does it come naturally to you? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below. Remember always to like, comment, and share these beautiful posts if they have inspired you.
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About The Author: Evi Idoghor is a Christian, writer, content creator, and a graduate of chemical engineering from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Consumed by her love for writing and desire to effect change, she launched her online platform in 2018 to tap into her creativity and start meaningful conversations with one goal in mind—to redefine status quo.
Having spent a great part of her formative years in the US where she lived for about 11 years and got to explore what the beautiful country offers by traveling around its coasts, most of her writings have been influenced by her time spent in America. In addition to that, she has worked and partnered with writing agencies and individuals to bring their stories to life.