Walking in Circles

Psalm 13 - For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

How long, O Lord? Wilt Thou forget me forever?
How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
Lest my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
Lest my adversaries rejoice when I am shaken.

But I have trusted in Thy lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.

As this psalm opens up you can't help but get the impression that the psalmist is waiting for something. Four times in the first two verses he asks the question, "How long?" And this isn't a strange experience. This isn't a feeling that's foreign to us. Frequently throughout our lives most of us feel like we're waiting for something. The question of "How long?" crosses our minds and most of us, if we're honest, don't like waiting. 

A while back we began to consider the strength of weakness, the marvelous truth presented in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 that Christ's strength is made perfect in our weakness. And we saw that whatever we consider to be our biggest weakness or handicap may actually prove to be the key to our usefulness in the service of Christ, and we looked at several examples of this. Abraham and Sarah were old, past the age of child bearing, and yet what did God do? He showed His strength through their greatest weakness by fulfilling His promise that they would have a son in their old age. When the Lord called Moses from the burning bush and sent him to deliver the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt, Moses responded by emphasizing his weakness. He said he couldn't speak well. And yet the Lord was going to demonstrate His strength through Moses' weakness. When the Lord sent Jeremiah to be His prophet Jeremiah said he couldn't do it because he was just a kid. But God chooses to work through unlikely people. He didn't choose the best and the brightest. From a human point of view, He didn't pick a winning team. That's what we saw in 1 Corinthians 1, that God chose the poor the weak and the foolish of this world in order that He might demonstrate His riches, power and wisdom.

And now I want to continue this study of the strength of weakness by focusing on a subject that some of us are tempted to view as a hindrance in our lives, and that is the issue of routine, the issue of monotony. There are times when we become overwhelmed with the feeling that we aren't really accomplishing anything, living day to day and feeling like we're waiting for something, we just don't know what it is. And so we're tempted to view our circumstances, the mundane tasks that are set before us day in and day out as hindrances and obstacles which we feel like, if only we could get out of maybe we could make something of our lives. Maybe we could find significance. But could it actually be that God has placed us exactly where we are for His own purpose, and the routine that we grow weary of is actually the tool that God is using to draw us closer to Himself and make us useful for His own purpose?

A nineteenth century believer wrote these words, "Our present circumstances are to be looked upon as advantages which the Great Disposer has afforded us, and not, as we are apt to think, impediments which He has thrown in our way. They are the materials with which we are to begin to build, and not a heap of rubbish that must be cleared out of the way before we lay the first stone in the edifice of our lives."

Another writes, "Never fancy you could be something if only you had a different lot and sphere assigned to you. The very things that you most depreciate, as fatal limitations or obstructions, are probably what you most want. What you call hindrances, obstacles, discouragements, are probably Gods opportunities. For He says, ‘My power is made perfect in weakness.’"

So, where can we go in the Word of God to help us with this issue of monotony? There are several people in the Word of God who may have faced this issue in their experience, but the one that I want to focus on is Joshua. When we read the Word of God we do well to put ourselves in the shoes of the people we're reading about. I think that we can become so familiar with the Word of God that we aren't really surprised or struck by the things that are happening. Now, familiarity with the Word of God is a wonderful thing and we're blessed to have such an abundance of access to it. But because we know it so well we're not surprised by the ending. They don't sound strange to us. We can approach the story of Joseph for example, and the entire time we're reading it we have the end of the story in mind. It's possible to lose sight of the fact that he was a real person just like you and I. When Moses led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt he didn't know that God was going to part the Red Sea. When Gideon was threshing wheat in the wine press he didn't know the miraculous way in which God was going to deliver His people from the hands of the Midianites. These are people, just like you and I. "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours." They had feelings, emotions, desires, hopes, dreams, and aspirations just like we do. They were subject to pain and discouragement and disappointment just like we are. And when Joseph was thrown into the pit he didn't have in the back of his mind that he was going to be the prime minister of Egypt some day. He had to live out his experience one day at a time and choose in the moment how he was going to respond to the circumstances in which he found himself. Just because someone has their story in the Bible doesn't mean that they were any less human than you or I.

So when we approach these stories we would do well to put ourselves in the shoes of these people and think of how we would react if we were in their situation.

As I was thinking about the issue of routine and monotony I was thinking that in those kind of circumstances it often feels like we're just walking in circles, following the same routine day in and day out. I feel this way sometimes, and I think to myself, what's the point? Going around and around, it just feels useless, and pointless. These questions came to my mind recently, and then this thought crossed my mind, what if God wants me to walk around in circles, am I willing to do it? How ridiculous, why would God ever want such a thing? He's not wasteful, right? He's not purposeless. But regardless, suppose that God really does want you to walk in circles, are you content to obey? Am I content to obey? Now, our answer to that question is significant. Because if I'm not content to obey Him, whatever He may want me to do, however useless or pointless it may seem to me, if I'm not content to obey even when the Lords instructions don't make sense to me, then I'm rendered useless on account of my refusal to obey. See, I can fool myself into thinking that I'll follow God anywhere, but if He tells me to walk in circles and I decide that I've got a better plan then I've just proven that I've decided to rely on my own understanding rather than trusting in the Lord with all my heart. So, before we even consider how relevant the question is we had better determine that the answer is yes, I'm willing to walk in circles if that's what God tells me to do. Once we settle that issue then we can go on and ask, is this question even relevant? Does God ever tell someone to walk around in circles? The answer is yes. Why? Maybe just to exercise our faith and obedience, but Gods purposes are not limited to that.

Hebrews 11:30 - "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days."

Joshua 6:1-5 - "Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.”"

Here we have the Lord commanding Joshua to go up and conquer Jericho in a very unusual way. If we have times in our lives when we feel like we're not really accomplishing anything, like we're not really going anywhere, like we're just walking in circles, then I imagine that's how Joshua must have felt, because he was literally walking in circles. And like I've said, that's the way the routine of life can feel sometimes. It becomes fairly monotonous. The same thing day in and day out, and after a while you feel like you're just waiting for something but you're not sure what it is.

I got a phone call from a young friend of mine a couple of weeks ago and he was experiencing this very thing. The gist of what he was saying was that he didn't really feel like his life was going anywhere. He's working, but he really just feels stuck. And his concern was that he didn't want change simply for the sake of change, but at the same time he didn't want to stay in his routine because it was becoming monotonous. And he expressed the concern that if he didn't get out and find that change now he might be stuck in this holding pattern for who knows how long, with the feeling of waiting for something but not quite sure what. It's the same kind of thing that Jimmy Stuarts character deals with in It's a Wonderful Life. All his life he has big dreams for his future, he wants to travel and see the world, but he can't seem to get out of his small town. He watches all his friends go off into new and exciting things and he just feels stuck. And I think that this feeling of monotony and routine is something that a lot of people struggle with. And It's a Wonderful Life is not the only movie that follows this pattern, this is the way a lot of stories and fairy tales begin because this is something that most of people can identify with. The story usually goes something like, a young man living a normal life is overcome with the feeling that there has to be more to life than this meager existence. So early on in the story he stumbles upon something, a treasure map or a genie in a bottle, or something else that sends him on some exciting adventure and ultimately ends with him becoming filthy rich. The End. Or, a young girl in a small town is living with the feeling that there must be more to life than this. And then something happens, some tragic turn of events that ultimately results in the girl meeting her one true love. Oh, and the person that she falls in love with also happens to be a prince, so she's not only in love but she's also loaded, and the picture fades out with the words, "And they lived happily ever after." Ok, fine. But there's a reason these things are called fairy tales. My question is, what is to keep them from falling into a monotonous routine again? The inference is that wealth or adventure or a human relationship or some other earthly thing holds the answer, but Solomon would be able to testify against that, would he? That's what the book of Ecclesiastes is all about. Experimenting with all these different things, trying to find satisfaction in all these worldly things, and what's the verdict? "Vanity of vanities" says the preacher, "All is vanity." Worthless, meaningless, it doesn't satisfy. But the reason that we like these stories is because we can identify with them. At least with the beginning.

So put yourself in Joshua's shoes. Don't read this with the end of the story in your mind. When we read the Lords instructions to Joshua here, this sounds absolutely unbelievable.

"Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in." The children of Israel had just crossed the Jordan into the promised land and the first thing they come to is this impregnable city. It's tightly shut up. No one's coming in and no one's going out. So what's the plan of attack? The Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors." It's a done deal as far as Gods concerned, though it's not Joshua's present experience. So the Lord says to Joshua, this is the plan for taking the city. Walk in circles in silence.

Does this not sound strange to you? Again, put yourself in his shoes. Imagine that this is the word of God to you. When putting together a plan for conquering the city this is the last thing we might expect. Because this is not the way that walls fall down. Walls fall down as a result of a dramatic force hitting them from the outside. But this is the word of God to you. Arm yourselves, and walk around in silence. Why would anyone in their right mind do this? I'll tell you why. It's the first two words of the verse we read in Hebrews 11, "By faith." God spoke, Joshua believes it, and he acts according to the word that he believes.

So picture the scene, day one, Joshua gathers all the men of war, the priests, the ark of the covenant and they all set in procession towards Jericho. They circle the city once and then they go back to camp. Joshua says, "Okay, good work everyone. Let's call it a day. I'll see you all back here tomorrow morning, same time same place." They're asking, "That was it?" Yeah that was it. "Well, maybe it was just a reconnaissance mission, maybe we were just getting the intel, and tomorrow we're going to start making some progress." Day two, they march around the city once, "Okay, good work, see you tomorrow bright and early." Day three, same thing. Once around the city, and then back to camp. Day four, same thing. Day five, same thing. Day six, same thing. From all outward appearance nothing is happening. They're just walking around in circles. The people who are watching conclude that there is nothing going on. Even the people marching don't have a clue what's going on, but God knows what's going on. Presumably days 1-6 were wasted time, but they weren't. Even when we conclude that nothing is going on, God knows what is going on.
Why did this have to last for a week? What was the purpose of days one through six? I don't know. But there's a reason that God had them do it this way. They couldn't simply skip days one through six and go straight to day seven, it wouldn't have worked. That's not what the Lord commanded. It kind of reminds you of Naaman, doesn't it? "Go dip yourself seven times in the Jordan River." He could have dipped himself six times, concluded that nothing was happening and gone home a leper. It's not our place to ask why, but simply to obey. Obedience, while it may look like walking in circles, is actually progress. So when God says to walk in circles and we obey, it might not look like it to us or anyone else, but we are actually making progress. "God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform."

"Well," you say, "that isn't so bad. Joshua only had to walk in circles for a week. I've been walking in circles for much longer than that. If it were only a week I wouldn't have a problem with it, but I feel like I've been waiting for a lot longer than that." But if you think about it, this isn't the first time we find Joshua walking in circles. If we go back to the book of Deuteronomy we find Moses recounting to the children of Israel the events that happened in the proceeding books. In chapter 1 he talks about the twelve spies, including Joshua and Caleb, going into the promised land and bringing back a report to the people. Ten of the twelve gave a bad report, saying that they couldn't possibly go up and take the land, and the other two, Joshua and Caleb, said that they certainly should go up and take the land just as the Lord had said. However, the multitude listened to the ten and as a result they were forced to wander in the wilderness for forty years until that entire generation died out. This is what we find being talked about in Deuteronomy 2:1 where we read - "Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and circled Mount Seir for many days." So we find the entire congregation, including Joshua, walking in circles.

Let's go back to the book of Numbers and see in a little more detail how the children of Israel found themselves in this predicament. The account is found in Numbers chapters 13 and 14, and here we are given the details of Israel's unbelief concerning Gods promises to them about inheriting the land of Canaan. God had told His people in no uncertain terms that He had given them the land of Canaan. Back in Genesis chapter 12 God promised to give this land to Abraham and his descendants forever. And when God sent Moses up to lead the people out of Egypt He reiterated that He was leading them up to the land that He promised them. So we come to Numbers chapter 13 and we find the people in a position to go up and take possession of the land that God has promised.

Numbers 13:1-3 - Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel." Then we're given a list of their names in verses 4-16, among them were Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. In verses 17-20 Moses gives them instructions on everything he wants a report on as they go through the land. Their forty day journey is comprised of four verses, and then in verse 25 they return to the camp and begin to give a report to Moses and they show the people the fruit of the land. They say in in verse 27 - "We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit." So far so good. "Nevertheless" they continue, "the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan." So they get this report, "Yes, the land is exceedingly fruitful, but there are people there who are bigger and stronger than us." This is the report of all twelve. All twelve saw the abundant fruitfulness of the land, and all twelve saw the size and strength of the enemy. So up to this point they have the facts, now the question is, how are they going to respond? Based on what they know what are they going to do? Well, the first one to make a suggestion is Caleb, and we read in verse 30 - "Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”"

Vs. 31-33 - "But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”"

All twelve men saw the same things. They all agreed that the land was exceedingly good. They all agreed that it was a fruitful land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they all saw the obstacles as well. In light of the obstacles ten of the men reported, "We can't go in there. It's too big for us." But the other two said, "We should by all means go up and take it." So who does the multitude listen to? Numbers 14:1-2 - "Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!" Vs. 6-9 - "Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”" Joshua and Caleb try to encourage the people to trust the Lord, and how do the people respond? Vs. 10 - "But all the congregation said to stone them with stones." So the Lord says in verse 22 - "Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it. Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea." He continues in verse 28 - "Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die."

And that's where we picked it up in Deuteronomy 2. The Lord told the people to set out toward the wilderness by way of the Red Sea because they were going to have to spend the next 40 years there for their unbelief. And in Deuteronomy 2 it says that they did so and circled Mount Seir for many days. Presumably, the "many days" mentioned there is forty years. That's a long time to be walking in circles. The writer of the book of Hebrews is talking about this event in Israel's history and sums it up in chapter 3 verse 19 by saying - "So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief." And we also read in Numbers 32:11-13 - "'None of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have followed the Lord fully.' So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the Lord was destroyed."

As I was considering these chapters I was thinking about Joshua and Caleb. Out of the hundreds of thousands of people in the congregation of Israel, these were the only two who had faith in God. The Lords anger burned against the congregation because of their unbelief, and the entire nation wandered through the wilderness for forty years. Why? "Because of unbelief." But what about Joshua and Caleb? They believed God and followed Him fully, and yet they found themselves wandering in circles in the wilderness with everyone else for forty years. Shouldn't they have been able to go up immediately and take possession of the land? Unlike their contemporaries, Joshua and Caleb did enter the land eventually, but not as quickly as we might expect. The Lord had them wait.
In fact, when we come to the end of Numbers 14 we find a group of Israelites who say, "We were wrong, we've sinned, we should have trusted the Lord, but now we're ready. We trust God now and we'll go up and take possession of the land." But Moses responded, "Don't do it! If you go up now you're going to be killed," Why? "because the Lord is not with you. If you try to enter you're going to fail." Twice Moses tells them "The Lord is not going up with you." But the people went up anyway and were beaten back by the inhabitants of the land.
Joshua and Caleb were ready to enter the land and they believed that God would give it to them, but they weren't going to go up with this crowd, they weren't going to enter without the Lord. They showed that they would rather walk in circles in the wilderness with God than go into the land of promise without Him. Through no fault of their own, Joshua and Caleb had to spend forty years in the wilderness. Due to the sin of others, they had to wander in the wilderness, but God was with them every step of the way. So Jericho wasn't the first time Joshua found himself walking in circles, he had plenty of experience with it before he came to Jericho.

There are times of difficulty and trial that come into the life of every believer who seeks to grow in their relationship with God. Times of waiting. But in whatever trying circumstances we find ourselves, we can be confident that the Lord will bring us through in His own perfect timing. It may feel like we're stuck in a wilderness, going through the monotony of everyday life, waiting for something but not quite sure what, but the Lord has put us here for a purpose. During the wilderness wanderings God was still with His people, He didn't utterly forsake them. Joshua and Caleb, by faith, were content to wait on the Lord, even in the wilderness. And faith is patient to wait on God for His timing.

At the end of the forty years, according to the word of the Lord, the younger generation was able to enter the promised land under the leadership of Joshua and Caleb. After forty years in the wilderness these two faithful servants of God were finally able to enter into the land God had promised them.
Caleb recounts this in Joshua 14, and he says something very interesting. In Joshua 14:11 he is entering his inheritance and he says - “Behold, I am eighty-five years old today. I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in.”
It is a difficult thing to wait on the Lord, and I can't imagine waiting for forty years, I've barely been alive that long. That seems like an awfully long time to wander in a wilderness. But God will always show Himself faithful. On the day that Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land after waiting in the wilderness for forty years, we read that their strength was just the same then as it was forty years earlier. Again, this makes no sense humanly speaking. Strength diminishes with time, but not for these two men. Why? Because this is exactly what God has promised. "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

God blessed these two men because they followed Him with their whole heart. Though they had to wait in the wilderness, He was with them, He led them through, He renewed their strength, and He gave them the land which He had promised to them. Whatever our circumstances, we need to learn from the examples of these two faithful men, who, by faith, in spite of difficult circumstances served the Lord wholeheartedly where He had placed them, and were blessed as a result. We're told in Colossians 3:23-24 - "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

I don't know why Joshua had to walk in circles for forty years, but it wasn't wasted time. It must have been fairly monotonous, largely the same thing day after day, but knowing what we do about Joshua we can be sure that he made the most of it. Back in the book of Exodus we read that when Moses used to go out and meet with the Lord in the tent of meeting Joshua would go with him. And we read that when Moses would leave and go back into the camp Joshua would remain at the tent. This is a man who desired to know God. He could have wasted the forty years. He could have squandered them by complaining about his circumstances, but I don't think that's how Joshua spent that time. How much can you grow in your relationship with God over a period of forty years? 

And Joshua never lost faith, because at the end of it all he was still able to say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

There are some basic truths presented in the Word of God that may be an encouragement in the routine of life.

First, we need to remember that God is sovereign over all of life. The Lord didn't make a cookie cutter pattern for our lives. Each one is unique. He has placed you in your exact circumstances for His own purpose. He could have chosen some other country, China, India, Iran, or Mexico. He could have chosen some other age, that of the flood, the exodus, or of the early church. He could have chosen some other lot, one of great power and influence, a political office or a royal court. But since he chose this land, this age, and your particular lot, whatever that lot may be, we must believe that these presented the likeliest and swiftest way for realizing His particular purpose for us individually. If you could have reached your greatest potential as a king or a queen, you would have been born into one of those positions. But since He has placed you where you are right now, whether a businessman, a student, a teacher, a mom, or whatever else it may be, since He has placed you there you will find right beside you the materials and possibilities of a great life.

Before Moses built the tabernacle God showed him the entire pattern of it on the mountain. But this isn't the way He unfolds the plans of our lives to us. Sometimes we wish it was, but it's not. He just gives us the opportunity of trusting Him one day at a time. Each day we are weaving another thread into the tapestry of our lives. It's like that old poem says,

My life is but a weaving

between my Lord and me,

I cannot choose the colors

He worketh steadily.

Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow,

And I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper

And I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Shall God unroll the canvas

And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the Weavers skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern He has planned.

At the end all the disjointed pieces will suddenly come together and we'll recognize the immense wisdom of God in the unfolding of our lives. In Jeremiah 29 the Lord says "I know the plans that I have for you." And that has to be enough for us right now. I may not know His plans for me, but it's enough to know that He knows.

For by and by the veil will lift

and plain it all He'll make.

Through all the way, though dark to me

He made not one mistake.

God is sovereign over all of life.

Secondly, we need to do every task as to the Lord. We may not be looking forward to anything extraordinary in the coming week. Perhaps all we have in sight are the small things, the everyday tasks and mundane labor, but we're called to do these things "as unto the Lord and not unto men." And whether we eat or drink or whatever else we do, we are to do all things for the glory of God. It's not the doing of great things that makes a great life, it's the great doing of little things. In writing on this subject F.B. Meyers said, "Give up your useless regret, your querulous complaint, and begin to meet the call of trivial common-place, with tenderness to each person you encounter, with faith in God, as doing His best for you, with heroic courage, and unswerving fidelity, with patience, thoroughness, submission. Go on acting thus, week in and week out, year in and year out, with no thought of human notice, determined always to be at your best, eager only to pay out, without stint, the gold of a noble, unselfish heart. At the end of life, though you wist not that your face glistens, others will see you shining like the sun in your Heavenly Fathers kingdom. It will be discovered that you have unwittingly lived a great life, and you will be greeted at the threshold of heaven with the "Well done" of your Lord." What's really important to us? Are we striving for the praises of men, or are we looking forward to the "Well done" of our heavenly Father?

Third, we need to recognize that it's the right doing of the small things that prepares us for the right doing of greater things. The Lord Jesus said "He who is faithful in little is faithful also in much, but he who is unrighteous in little will be unrighteous also in much." We sometimes think that great opportunity makes a hero, but it's not so. The great opportunities don't make hero's they just reveal them. Our characters are formed by our everyday choices in the little things. If we aren't willing to give up our seat for someone do we really think that we would be willing to die for them? You can't be brave in a crises if you are habitually a coward. You can't be generous with a fortune if you're a miser with a limited income. David was well practiced with the sling and stone before he brought down Goliath. Joseph had to be pure in thought and strong in self-discipline or he never would have resisted the advances of his master's wife. It's in the routine of life that the real gains are made.

Here we must win our victories or suffer our defeats. No restlessness or discontent can change our lot. Others may have other circumstances surrounding them, but here are yours. The question for us is, how will we respond to them? "Not for ease or worldly pleasure, not for fame my prayer shall be; Gladly will I toil and suffer, only let me walk with Thee."

It's not our part to ask why, but simply to obey, even if it means walking in circles.

Father, I know that all my life

Is portioned out to me;
The changes that are sure to come,
I do not fear to see;
But I ask Thee for a present mind
Intent on pleasing Thee.

I would not have the restless will
That hurries to and fro,
Seeking for some great thing to do,
Or secret thing to know;
I would be treated as a child,
And guided where I go.

I ask Thee for the daily strength,
To none that ask denied,
A mind to blend with outward life
While keeping at Thy side,
Content to fill a little space,
If Thou be glorified.

And if some things I do not ask,
In my cup of blessing be,
I'd have my spirit filled the more
With grateful love to Thee —
More careful than to serve Thee much,
To please Thee perfectly.

There are briers besetting every path,
That call for patient care;
There is a cross in every lot,
And need for earnest prayer;
But a lowly heart that leans on Thee
Is happy anywhere.

In service which Thy love appoints

There are no bonds for me:

My inmost heart is taught the truth

That makes Thy children free;

And a life of self-renouncing  love 

Is a life of liberty.