For better or worse, some decisions leave us only with the option of finding our way forward and there’s no going back. To go back would be a return to what’s comfortable and known, but also to settle and shortchange who God has called us to be. While we don’t know where each adventure will take us, we know we can’t go back to how things used to be.
The children of Israel were tempted to return to Egypt after God rescued them. They had not yet entered the Promised Land and the wilderness disturbed their life as they knew it. But to return would have been a rejection of the God who called them out and into something new.
And the same is true for us.
Perhaps it’s a job, relationship, or community that holds us back from experiencing the full goodness God has for us. And, initially, it’s difficult to see beyond the status quo and how things have always been. But eventually we answer God’s call to enter something new.
Naturally, at first, things are very chaotic and we feel completely undone, as the old is passing away but the new has not yet arrived. This is the fall and winter months before the next spring.
And, of course, part of us would love to return to the warmth and comfort of what came before. But the cost is too high and we must endure the cold wilderness of change to discover the new season of blessing God has for us.
Certainly, it’s wise to turn around whenever we realize we’re heading in the wrong direction. But this should be a decision guided by our faith and not by fear. We cannot in good faith turn around when it is clear God has called us into a new thing.
Stay the course when God is calling you into something new. There’s no going back despite the seduction and comfort of the status quo.
Photo by sebastiaan stam on Unsplash
