“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27 NIV)
Tomorrow morning, we set out for Atlanta to serve a ministry to the homeless during our school’s spring break. Among the students going, there are a number who have never done anything like this. I have heard there is some nervousness. That is to be expected when we venture into unknown territory and experience. Yet, they are going because they have a certain amount of trust in me as a leader. They know me enough to know I would not take them somewhere that they shouldn’t go. But still they are anxious.
Following Jesus is not without its trepidation. We know Him and we trust Him, but still there is nervousness when we fall in behind Him and follow Him to who knows where to encounter who knows what.
I have had many of those times in my life where the Lord called me to follow Him into the unknown. Just after I graduated from college, I went to what was then Communist-controlled Eastern Europe. I was a young man from Indiana who had never set foot outside of the United States. Upon graduation from seminary, I loaded up all my earthly possessions and moved to Kansas where I knew not a single person to take a ministry position for which I had no experience. And after more than two decades of living and working in one place, I moved across the country to a place where again I knew no one to begin a new ministry.
As I took my first steps in following the Lord on these journeys, there was trepidation. What was ahead and what would I encounter? There were many fears that filled my mind, but I always came back to the One whom I was following. He knew the path; He knew what was ahead. I knew that no matter how difficult the path ahead might be, that He was in control and I could trust Him. He wasn’t going to lead me to somewhere I shouldn’t go.
And in all three of these journeys, among many others over my lifetime, the end results were amazing. The trepidation that naturally filled my heart always turned out to be unwarranted. Not that these journeys were without difficulty; sometimes they were extremely hard. But the Lord was always there with me and what I gained far outweighed the challenges. He knew when He first called me on each journey that it was exactly what I needed.
Today, if you are beginning or in the midst of a journey onto which the Lord has called you, know you can trust where He is taking you. Although you may not see it or understand it now, when you get there you will realize what the Lord has known all along.
© Jim Musser 2015
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