Monday Moment: He Leadeth

Lord, I would place my hand in Thine,

Nor ever murmur nor repine;

Content, whatever lot I see,

Since ’tis my God that leadeth me....

-Joseph H. Gilmore, 1862

Are there all that many times in our lives when we recognize - in the midst of our happening happenstances - that God, Himself, is leading us? That He, in His omniscient kindness and grace, has reached out and taken hold of our hand and is leading... gently, steadily pulling... us along?

If it's happened to me before, I didn't recognize it. I've never, at the end of the day, sat back and said, Wow. This day wasn't me. This day wasn't my own. Have you? I hadn't....

Until today.

The things we passed, right? After eleven hours on the road, we took in quite a bit, didn't we? First, the pastures of northeast Texas. Then the cattle and equine country of central Texas....

Yikes. Then the rattler-ridden Texas panhandle....


...Then the mishmash Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas cotton and wheat fields.

Finally, here we are tonight in Kansas. In the town that's home to the Wizard of Oz museum. I honestly feel like I'm in Oz. I feel like I traveled a pre-laid yellow brick road to end up, so far, here.

Do our lives require leading? We have plans, after all. Plans. Huh. I marvel at the turn my life has taken in the past month. Remember how excited we were about the beginning of fall? I had so many plans. I had things on the calendar and things going on and things to do. I had, I thought, my days arranged. Then one thing after another... bam, bam, bam... and here I am. In Wizard of Oz Kansas. Here I am, in place where I know no one and need a map to find my way out of town. Here I am, feeling as though I'm being physically led to another place.

Do we have a God who leads? Absolutely. Look at Abram in Genesis 12. Look at the nation of Israel in Exodus 14. Do we serve a God who rearranges lives and details to accomplish His purpose? Yup. Check out Joseph's wild ride beginning in Genesis 37. Look at what happened in Joshua's life in Joshua 10. God watches. God moves. God directs. God leads. What a kind, all-knowing God... a loving, leading Father, who isn't above tipping over lives or reaching out and taking hold of hands to lead us to another place. A place of learning. A place of leaning. A place of seeking. A place of healing.

Most of you have never met me. Trust me, I'm nothing special. My life is nothing cool. But my God, on the other hand, is awesome. I stand amazed in His presence. I lived in awe of His mercy and His goodness and His never-ending patience. I get up tomorrow morning in expectation of what He'll do and say and where He'll lead. And the wonderful thing about His leading is that sometimes it's not even to a place. Sometimes it's just to pray. To give. To forgive. To stop. To be still. To turn back to Him.

But He does lead. I experienced that today. If He's found my hand, He can find yours, too. If He can make something of my messy life, He can make something beautiful of yours, too.

Lead on, O King eternal. We're waiting to see where You go. Lead on.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me;
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.