A speaker uses the story of Ruth and a metaphor about driving on a dark road where you can only see a few lane markings ahead to argue that faith means taking the next step without seeing the full destination. She warns against trying to control circumstances and says spiritual disciplines like church and Bible study keep you aligned with what God reveals moment by moment.
What I love about the story of Ruth is she's the story of all of us, where we're just trying to figure out, how can I get to you, God? How can I get closer to you? How can I know you better? And whether it's because I've made conscious decisions to mess up, or whether it's some things I did, I didn't even know any better, I'm here and I'm saying, I want you to be my God, but I have no idea how this is gonna pan out. All I know is I gotta follow you to Bethlehem. I gotta follow this one person who's leading this Bible study. I've gotta show up at church. I've gotta listen to the radio. I've gotta read these books. I've gotta keep my Bible open. I've gotta follow, follow the yellow brick road. Just do what I know to do until the next part where you give me more instructions. So we can look at the end of this book and we can say to this woman, well, you know, it ended up good for her. Let me tell you how your story ends. When you follow Jesus Christ, it ends well for you too. Whether it's on this side of eternity or on that side of eternity, it ends well for you. Your job is not to try to figure out exactly how things end or exactly what it looks like. See, that's the problem, ladies. We like to be in control, and we want to make sure that not only are we following God, but our husbands are following God as well. And so we try to maneuver and manipulate in the name of Jesus, and Jesus didn't ask you to do all of that. As Beth Moore quoted my daddy, because I never heard my daddy say that until Beth Moore said it, all you need to do is duck so when God tries to hit your husband over the head, you're not in the way. Your job is to follow hard after whatever God is asking you to do in terms of taking that next step. Now here's the problem. We like to follow God and know where we're going. So when my sister asked me to come to the house where I ended up living next door to her for the first time, it wasn't far. It was about 10, 12 minutes away. And she'd gotten the keys. They'd just closed on the house. She said, "Come see it." And I said, "Do I have to come tonight?" I mean, I already had the t-shirt and the yoga pants on, and I was like, you know, "Do I have to do it tonight?" She said, "Yes, please, please." I said, "The sun is setting. Am I gonna be able to find it?" "Oh yeah, it's easy, it's easy. Just come out of your subdivision, make a left, go down about a mile, make another left, stay on that road 5 miles, "Make another left, 1 mile, you're at my front door." I said, "All right." So I got out, went down the first mile, made a left, got on that 5-mile stretch, and we were good for a little bit. 6 lanes with a median and some streetlights, chugging along, no problem. The sun is setting quickly. Those 6 lanes moved to 4 with a median and some streetlights. No problem. I can see, sun is setting, we're still good. Those 4 lanes lost the median, the streetlights spread out a little bit. No problem, I'm still good, still heading in the right direction, but eventually 4 went to 2, the streetlights stopped. So now I'm on this back road. She didn't tell me that part. I'm on this back road and the road is turning and twisting and I felt very uncomfortable, very, very narrow road. I'd never been this far before even though it was kind of close to my house. And I was really gripping the steering wheel hard and I ended up turning my brights on and trying to pay attention as much as I could. And you know what was uncomfortable? I didn't know where I was going. I had no idea what to expect as this road was rising up and falling down and curving suddenly. I didn't know, but I realized something. There were 5 to 7 yellow lines. 5 to 7, that's really all I could see even with my brights on. And so as I drove, I started squinting hard and looking at those 5 to 7 lines. And I realized this, that if I was paying attention to those 5 to 7 lines, 5 to 7 lines were really all I needed to see. They were enough to tell me when a sharp turn was coming. They were enough to tell me if one of those lines got solid that pay attention because a car might be coming suddenly over a hill coming your way. It told me when the road was going to go up or when it was going to go down. 5 to 7 lines, and as uncomfortable as that first trip was, and as hard as I was gripping the steering wheel, and as difficult as it was to see, 5 to 7 lines were all I needed. Now, I got to her house and I was grateful to make it there and I was so happy 'cause she makes some killer cinnamon rolls and I got some that night. But here's the real deal. The real deal is that later, a few years later, that ended up being the road to my house. Sometimes 5 to 7 lines are all God gives you. And we don't make it to where He wants us to go 'cause we turn around 'cause we don't like how it feels to be on a back road. And we say, "You know what, God? I'm not going all the way if I can't see it." If I can't see it, if I'm not going in the light of day where I can see the whole horizon and know exactly how this thing is gonna pan out, I'm not going, which really equates to, "I don't trust you." But when you say, "You know what, God? You are a God who can be trusted. You are good, and your mercy and your lovingkindness, it endures forever. And if you would not spare your own Son on the cross for my sin, then why would I not trust you with my life, my everyday life, the decisions that I have to make?" Even the ones that are hard. I want to trust you, even if you only show me the way 5 to 7 lines at a time.
