A God Spotlight after the storm

By Jessica Brodie

What to do? How to proceed? Which way to turn? Sometimes, I wish I had a giant God Spotlight to answer those questions.

As a Christian, I know when I’m faced with a choice or problem, I’m supposed to lay it at the feet of my Lord. But what am I supposed to do when I do just that—and nothing happens? What do I do when I pray for answers and get none, or pray for God to steer me and can’t feel His hands on my shoulders?

Show me the path, I plead. Silence.

And so I wait. And wait. And continue to pray and hope for the best. I hope I’m making the right choices. I read Scripture and talk to others, hoping God’s message will reveal itself somehow.

Eventually, it does. The situation works out. Later, I look back and can often see God’s hand clearly on the situation, even though at the time I didn’t see it or feel it. Hindsight shows me God’s Spotlight.

The victims of Hurricane Florence—both here in South Carolina as well as in North Carolina and Virginia—are heavy on my heart right now. I live in the Midlands, and we were blessed to have seen no storm issues in my neighborhood, but just a couple of hours away, many of God’s people had a decidedly different experience, from flash floods and slow-build cresting river-floods to tornadoes, crumbled roads and downed trees. I can only imagine what my fellow brothers and sisters were going through. I can hear their cries to God: Help us. Save us.

Some of them have seen their prayers answered. Others wait. And wait.

Reading the Psalms, I came across this verse: “Lord … lead me in your righteousness. Make your way clear, right in front of me” (Psalm 5:8).

The psalm was written by David, who was surrounded by enemies and gossips, manipulative people who spread rumors and lies. Just like we do, David begged God in the psalm to bring him clarity: What do I do? Please, show me the way! Just like I do, it seems David wished he had a God spotlight to make his path crystal-clear.

This is the same King David we know God loved, the one God described as a man after His own heart, a man who shared His desires (Acts 13:22). Yet even David had trouble understanding God’s will! Just like I do. Just like many of us do.

I know God loves me just as He loves David. He loves us all. And this psalm shows me I’m not alone in my struggle to understand God’s will.

Today, I share it with you. As you turn to the Lord and lay your worries and frustrations at His feet, as you ask Him to make the way clear for you, I pray you know God will answer—even if you can’t see, feel, hear, or understand that answer right now. Whether your worries and hardships are from the storm, from health concerns, from mental anguish and despair or any other reason, we don’t need a God Spotlight to show the way when we have God Himself leading us.

Just put one foot in front of the other, rest firmly in faith, pray and rely on God’s word and the support of other Christian believers, and have peace.

God’s got this.