Each fall brings a turn in the road. Summer is over. Every child enters a new grade. Families transition back into school-year rhythms. Teachers and school workers begin another school year with new kids, new curriculum, maybe new rules. With all of this come uncertainties, new things, new challenges.
For some people, the turn from summer means a return to a more stable life schedule. For others it might mean a busier work schedule. Perhaps less family time. Maybe it's running kids around from one activity to the next. Amid the change and busy-ness and hectic schedules, we can get caught up and before we know it our world is spinning and we can't get a handle on it. We become driven by, even owned by, the schedule of activity.
It is easy to think that we are all too familiar with this turn in the road. After all, it’s a well-traveled road, isn’t it? Every year we go through it. Because of this, many of us might feel like we know what’s around the curve. It’s just part of the rhythm of American life. It can even be a welcome turn with more stable daily rhythms that the summer chaos offers.
For others, however, the changes that come might bring anxiety, fear, or uncertainty that can cause stress or restless nights. There might be a family with a child entering into a new school. There might be a parent going back to work for the first time, or maybe returning after an extended break.
With any turn in the road, even familiar ones, it’s generally important to slow down. Not paying attention or just accelerating into a curve in the road generally isn't good advice. Instead of flying into the curve, or thinking it’s all too familiar, what might happen if you slowed down into this time of transition? How might more attentiveness to the turn in the road give you and your family more clarity to see where God might be present, in the familiar and especially in the unknown?
There’s a story in Numbers 13 & 14 where the Lord tells Moses to send people to scope out the territory ahead in the promised land. They were able to see what was around the turn in the road. What they saw were difficulties ahead that caused great anxiety. So much so that they actually didn’t look forward to entering into the good land that God had for them. Too difficult, they said. They’d rather have died in the wilderness.
In this story, sending people to see what was ahead caused a level of fear and anxiety which highlighted their lack of trust in the Lord. This, in turn, kept many of them from experiencing the goodness of the promised land. From the perspective of God’s view, around the turn was the good land God had promised to his people. However, what God's people saw around the turn was a difficult road, not a good land.
This story is about trusting the Lord while knowing that difficulty is around the turn. And it invites us into a process of active trust.
Active trust is not the same as just trusting more or never doubting (as if trusting God is about tying harder). The life of faith is more complex than this. Mustering up more trust in the Lord wasn't going to make the difficult road around the turn any easier for God's people. This story invites us to consider how fear, doubt, and anxiety might be an important part of the process of trusting the Lord.
In this story, the process of trust meant first reckoning with the things that make trust difficult. The people of Israel were led by the Lord himself to a situation where they had to see the difficulty ahead with their own eyes, the things that brought anxiety, doubt, and fear. This is where the road of deeper deeper trust in the goodness of God begins.
But the process continues. Once the people of Israel saw what brought anxiety and fear, what now? The next step in the process of deepening trust would be for God's people to say, “There’s no way we can face this on our own. We don't got this. We are in need.” This is the hinge step of trust. Saying these words would have opened the door into the good land God had before them. Not saying them kept the Israelites back. Self-reliant and unwilling to depend completely on the Lord, they had forgotten who had brought them this far. So they were unable to walk together with one another into the good land.
How's it for you this season? Whether the turn in the road this season is familiar or not, what if you took a first step to identify where you're vulnerable, anxious, or fearful? Can you name what is causing you to not trust the Lord? From the witness of Scripture, it seems to be a perfectly ok thing to do.
As you take a look at what brings fear, uncertainty, anxiety, or lack of trust in this turn-in-the-road season, can you say: “There’s no way I can do this on my own. I don't got this. I am in need." This is what Jesus talks about when he says "blessed are the poor in spirit." It's acknowledging our inability, our poverty of spirit: "I don't got this, I am in need. I need the Lord to carry me. I need the body of Christ to carry this with me." This is the beginning of the life in the kingdom of heaven.
Now, I know how "I don't got this" turns into the cliche "God's got this." We've all heard this. But let's be clear: "God's got this" is no magic bullet for an easy road. And the sticky thing about trusting the Lord is that we never know how the Lord will move. This is where it's a huge leap. If God's got this, and I don't got this, then how God's got this might just be in a way I don't like.
But where this all leads us is ultimately better, because it's not about you. The whole point is that this is the pathway into deeper communion with the Triune God and with others. This is the road to deeper life, to hope and peace. After all the promised land is not a place. It is God.
Take a Step.
With your family, spouse, or a close friend, take time to sit together and navigate with intention the turn in the road you face this season, individually or as a family.
Ask and talk about:
Remind each other:
"Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." ~Jeremiah 17:7-8
For some people, the turn from summer means a return to a more stable life schedule. For others it might mean a busier work schedule. Perhaps less family time. Maybe it's running kids around from one activity to the next. Amid the change and busy-ness and hectic schedules, we can get caught up and before we know it our world is spinning and we can't get a handle on it. We become driven by, even owned by, the schedule of activity.
It is easy to think that we are all too familiar with this turn in the road. After all, it’s a well-traveled road, isn’t it? Every year we go through it. Because of this, many of us might feel like we know what’s around the curve. It’s just part of the rhythm of American life. It can even be a welcome turn with more stable daily rhythms that the summer chaos offers.
For others, however, the changes that come might bring anxiety, fear, or uncertainty that can cause stress or restless nights. There might be a family with a child entering into a new school. There might be a parent going back to work for the first time, or maybe returning after an extended break.
With any turn in the road, even familiar ones, it’s generally important to slow down. Not paying attention or just accelerating into a curve in the road generally isn't good advice. Instead of flying into the curve, or thinking it’s all too familiar, what might happen if you slowed down into this time of transition? How might more attentiveness to the turn in the road give you and your family more clarity to see where God might be present, in the familiar and especially in the unknown?
There’s a story in Numbers 13 & 14 where the Lord tells Moses to send people to scope out the territory ahead in the promised land. They were able to see what was around the turn in the road. What they saw were difficulties ahead that caused great anxiety. So much so that they actually didn’t look forward to entering into the good land that God had for them. Too difficult, they said. They’d rather have died in the wilderness.
In this story, sending people to see what was ahead caused a level of fear and anxiety which highlighted their lack of trust in the Lord. This, in turn, kept many of them from experiencing the goodness of the promised land. From the perspective of God’s view, around the turn was the good land God had promised to his people. However, what God's people saw around the turn was a difficult road, not a good land.
This story is about trusting the Lord while knowing that difficulty is around the turn. And it invites us into a process of active trust.
Active trust is not the same as just trusting more or never doubting (as if trusting God is about tying harder). The life of faith is more complex than this. Mustering up more trust in the Lord wasn't going to make the difficult road around the turn any easier for God's people. This story invites us to consider how fear, doubt, and anxiety might be an important part of the process of trusting the Lord.
In this story, the process of trust meant first reckoning with the things that make trust difficult. The people of Israel were led by the Lord himself to a situation where they had to see the difficulty ahead with their own eyes, the things that brought anxiety, doubt, and fear. This is where the road of deeper deeper trust in the goodness of God begins.
But the process continues. Once the people of Israel saw what brought anxiety and fear, what now? The next step in the process of deepening trust would be for God's people to say, “There’s no way we can face this on our own. We don't got this. We are in need.” This is the hinge step of trust. Saying these words would have opened the door into the good land God had before them. Not saying them kept the Israelites back. Self-reliant and unwilling to depend completely on the Lord, they had forgotten who had brought them this far. So they were unable to walk together with one another into the good land.
How's it for you this season? Whether the turn in the road this season is familiar or not, what if you took a first step to identify where you're vulnerable, anxious, or fearful? Can you name what is causing you to not trust the Lord? From the witness of Scripture, it seems to be a perfectly ok thing to do.
As you take a look at what brings fear, uncertainty, anxiety, or lack of trust in this turn-in-the-road season, can you say: “There’s no way I can do this on my own. I don't got this. I am in need." This is what Jesus talks about when he says "blessed are the poor in spirit." It's acknowledging our inability, our poverty of spirit: "I don't got this, I am in need. I need the Lord to carry me. I need the body of Christ to carry this with me." This is the beginning of the life in the kingdom of heaven.
Now, I know how "I don't got this" turns into the cliche "God's got this." We've all heard this. But let's be clear: "God's got this" is no magic bullet for an easy road. And the sticky thing about trusting the Lord is that we never know how the Lord will move. This is where it's a huge leap. If God's got this, and I don't got this, then how God's got this might just be in a way I don't like.
But where this all leads us is ultimately better, because it's not about you. The whole point is that this is the pathway into deeper communion with the Triune God and with others. This is the road to deeper life, to hope and peace. After all the promised land is not a place. It is God.
Take a Step.
With your family, spouse, or a close friend, take time to sit together and navigate with intention the turn in the road you face this season, individually or as a family.
Ask and talk about:
- What things around the turn in the next few weeks bring fear or anxiety?
- What are you having trouble trusting the Lord with?
- Share honestly where you "don't got this" and even share how "I am in need" of both the Lord's presence and of the community of the body of Christ to walk with you.
- Talk about how doing this might reveal to you a deeper unity with God, or how it might be a way you can model together with your kids/spouse/friends Jesus' way of vulnerable trust
Remind each other:
"Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." ~Jeremiah 17:7-8
Categories
Recent
Archive
2025
August
No Comments