I know you have said it before.  “What in the world the world am I going to do?”  You are between a rock and a hard place… Or worse.  You are boxed in, powerless, unable to see your way out of a circumstance that has no easy answers.  The situation at hand has brought you to your knees.

Good place to start.

When we are in a crisis, we wrestle with every angle.  We scan our consciousness for any possible solution, scenario, or exit out of what we are facing.  We devise what we think are benign schemes, manipulations, versions of how to get someone to see our point, our need, our side.  None of it works.

The first thing we need to do when we don’t know what to do, is counter-intuitive.  Because it is too simple.  It sounds crazy, even.  We “do” nothing.

Yes, I know.  This raises the hair at the back of your head.  I don’t mean the kind of nothing that is passive.  I don’t mean simply folding your arms across your chest and taking a siesta.  I mean the kind that starts with folding your hands, bowing your head, and listening deeply for God to speak.  It’s the kind of nothing that seeks His nudge, His lighting our feet upon a path so that we know where the next step needs to lead.  It’s deeply seeking our spirits for His plan to the point where everything else fades to the background, and we sense Him showing us the way. 

I’ve been here many times, and I’m sure you have as well.  

The point is, God’s presence in our situations speaks sometimes loudly and most times in the barest of whispers.  He might give you the smallest of signs that point to a confirmation of something you already know in your heart.  Perhaps its a consideration of another’s perspective that is different than the one that comes from a knee-jerk reaction.  Or maybe its a subtle reminder that your battle belongs to the Lord, and you need only to keep your eyes steady and your prayers constant.

All of God’s greatest victories in my life, have come by submitting to Him in obedience and learning the virtue of waiting for His plan to unfold.  It’s finding strength in learning to be patient.  It’s being watchful for His hand to move and mine to stay occupied with taking care of what’s in front of me to do.

Does this mean we don’t plan, or take action, or have a vision inside our heads for what we want our resolutions to be?  No.  Just the opposite.  What this means is that we commit  to Him whatever we do, what we want for our tomorrows, while having the faith that He is going to make a way.

Sometimes, the way seems impossible.  God gives us only tiny glimpses, flickers of feeling that resonate with our spirits and cause us to keep going.  He wants us to trust Him with the result. We certainly can never know how things are going to turn out.  But our faith will give us the stamina to believe that they will, and it will be for the best. 

In all that we do, if we do it as He would have us, we are participants in divine outcomes.  How we speak, how we conduct ourselves, what we harbor in our hearts… These are the hallmarks of walking by faith. These are guideposts that keep us tethered to Him and all that He is doing on our behalf.

May the peace of God hold you, encourage you, strengthen you on your walk.  May you sense His presence in every step you take. And may you know in your spirit, that even when you don’t know what comes next or what you are to do, He does.

Waiting on God, is not doing nothing.  It’s everything.