jordanabina
I had just finished my third shift at the last 24h1 Prayer gathering at PILGRIM Coffee House in Grenoble, France, and I began to realize something. Over 3 hours, I heard different people ask God the same question. It wasn’t an uncommon question, and it wasn’t something I hadn’t asked myself. I’ve asked this question many times before. But more than that, this question has been on the lips of men and women throughout the centuries.
From a shared place in the human soul, the question arises, “God, what’s next?” It can refer to many aspects of life: what’s next in my job, what’s next in relationships, or what’s next with everything. In three short hours, I heard a young student cry out and ask what was next in her housing situation. I listened to a young man ask what was next for his internship opportunities. I heard a mother cry out to God on behalf of her daughter struggling with illness. God, what’s next?
Have you asked this? I have. Nothing brings me more fear than the fear of the unknown. For me, it’s the darkest fear and requires unwavering courage. You may think there are much worse things than the unknown, but I’m afraid I have to disagree. Tell me there are lions somewhere ahead, and I will most likely tremble but tell me you have no idea what’s ahead, and I will imagine the most dangerous of all monsters ever conceived by man.
Over and over again, we look to the horizon with desire and shudder at the details that still need answering to reach it. God, what’s next? As I wrestled in prayer with my brothers and sisters, a few things came to mind. The first will require some introspection. There is a side effect to worry and fear that the doctors never warned us about. One of the most significant side effects to worry about is amnesia. Have you noticed in times of worry and doubt that the first thing to go is our memory? One day of anxiety is also a day of complete forgetfulness. My brain loses access to my story and the trail markers of how I even go there in the first place.
I quickly forget how God has provided for me and the miracles He performed to guide me to where I am today. Anxiety brings amnesia, like gasoline on the fire of fear. Jesus has something to say, but we’ve misunderstood the point. Listen in on Jesus in Matthew 6:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34
What’s the point, Jesus? Should I just let go and let God? Should I kick my shoes off and wait for you to drop grapes into my mouth? Should I stop job hunting or quit pressing refresh on my college application page? Should I stop trying? It would only be fair to draw those conclusions from something other than this passage of scripture. Indeed we have a role to play in our lives, God directs our steps, and we must obey. Sometimes obedience will be studying hard for the test; sometimes, it may look like searching diligently for the next place to live. But what do we do with the question of what’s next?
What’s missed in that passage underneath the veil of provision is that Jesus is saying, beyond the coming giving you what you need, I see you. I know what you need; I know what’s troubling you. Jesus is answering what’s next.
What’s next? Jesus.
He’s what’s next. Jesus is the answer to the fear of the unknown. For the believer, there is no true unknown. Sure there may be details to be discovered and decisions to be made along the way, and those may bring incredible struggle, but there is something that will always be known. Better yet, someone who is always known, Jesus. Jesus is the answer to what’s next in our lives. Through the good and the bad, He remains. You and I have never walked into the unknown once in our lives, but we have suffered from temporary amnesia.
Jesus says, seek the Kingdom, seek Him, and He will guide us throughout the journey. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a journey, and that journey can be difficult, but the truth is we are never walking into the unknown; because what is known and what will always be known is that Jesus is already there. Let His word be the lamp to your feet; go forth.
