Trail Markers and God's Will

I did not get lost last Saturday during the trail run.  There were plenty of opportunities to do so, but I never wondered whether I was on the right path.  Lots of trails crossed the one we were to run on.  Some looked challenging and some looked inviting.  But the correct path was clear.  The marked trail was more than a general direction (run NE for .8 miles), but less than predetermining where each footstep should go.  The other notable thing was that the trail markers were not consistently spaced--they were only as close together as they needed to be.

A few years ago (like 25 or so) a number of my friends became interested in God's will.  Not just whether God had a will, or what God's desires may be, but the contours of how individual Christ followers could discern God's desires for them--as individuals.  At times the mental gymnastics were stunning.  Trying to see the hand of God in every little aspect of life.  What does it mean that I get a red light at this intersection, at this time.  In my dream someone was speaking Italian.  Is God calling me to go to Italy?

I am not mocking, but it makes me grin inside sometimes.  Granted, I could be entirely wrong and God may care deeply about the minutiae of our lives.  But I am not so sure.  It is certainly not a matter of capacity.  God the Creator has the ability to be involved with the most intimate details of every human life if He so chooses.  I'm just not sure that He so chooses.  Undoubtedly there have been times, places, and people down through history where God has had a very direct concern that His direction be followed in exquisite detail.  But that doesn't appear to usually be the case.  Please let me be clear.  I am not saying that I believe that God is disinterested--just that He may not have a preference.  Does God care whether you have green beans or yellow for supper tonight?  Probably not.  I do believe that God takes pleasure when we enjoy eating what we have grown in our gardens (and that He has created). 

When it comes to discerning God's will, I believe that He wants us to follow His direction even more than we want to.  A logical corollary is that if it is important to God, then He will let us know what He wants.  I do not believe that God takes pleasure in playing "hide and go seek" with His desires.  Sometimes I just think that He has no preference and takes pleasure in letting us make some of our own choices.

On the trail run, when the race director wanted to make sure that we didn't miss a turn, or get off course, the orange flags marking the course were very close together.  That way all we had to do was pay attention and we would stay on course.  When there was really only one path to follow (single track through the woods), the marker flags were more spaced out.  Along those sections a runner could have gotten off the course, but it would have been intentional.  If I had spent a lot of time looking for the marker flags where there were none, I would have finished even later than I did.  But along those stretches where there were not many flags, all I needed to do was to continue in the same direction until I was shown to go a different way.  I wonder if it is the same with following God's direction?

Pressing On!
-Ken