Step Forward or Backward - Wisdom or Faith

Let's face it, sometimes we have no idea what to do. We are confused, trapped in our own cognition, and unable to make a decision about what to do. The best advice of many of the faithful is to pray and ask God for help. As one of the faithful who has taken that advice I can say with honesty that one of two fairly obvious things will happen; God will speak or God will not speak.

In my own experience, God seems to give me more No's than Yes's. That is, when I am considering something and ask for God's help, I more often hear Him telling me No rather than Yes. This means that I know for sure what God wants me to stay out of, but what He wants me in can often remain a mystery.

What am I to do, you ask?

I think this video from Redux provides a good answer.

Ken Wytsma, Pastor of Antioch Church in Bend, OR, speaks on how we have the ability to both listen for God's direction and use our wisdom when He chooses to be silent.

This allows God to act in two ways.

1) God Speaks and You Lean on His Wisdom. This is the supernatural engaging the natural.You will know for sure what path you must walk down, and that He is leading you there, but the difficulty lies in following that calling.

2) God Does Not Speak and You "Step back into Wisdom" - In His silence, God provides you a chance to see that He has already given you everything you need to make a good decision. Will you know your decision is right once you make it? Maybe, maybe not; therein lies the difficulty of this situation. What I think God tries to teach us in these times is that He will catch you no matter what decision you make.

In both situations, faith is the key. The faith to listen and obey or the faith to trust and move forward.