One Step at a Time

“Lord what do you want me to do?”  “What is the plan?”  “How is this going to work?”  Ever asked those questions?  I know I  have and so have scores of others.  It’s human nature – we want to have the full plan laid out before us before we start.  No builder would begin a house without a complete set of blueprints – down to the location of every wall socket and light switch.  A business proposal outlines a long-term plan and prospectus for the success of the project.  No smart business man would buy into an idea that wasn’t fully developed.  In our lives we set out a plan for the day, the week, the month and the year – and even for years ahead.   We want to know how things will turn out in the end.  We want the whole picture.

But God doesn’t give us the whole picture.  He gives us one step at a time, just as He did for Samuel.  He told the prophet to go to Bethlehem and prepare to make a sacrifice with Jesse and his sons.  That’s it.   “Do step one and I will show you step two.”

God delights in obedience – the kind that doesn’t wait for the full plan but willingly acts on step one.  In fact, I don’t know of anyone in the Bible – except Jesus – who knew the end from the beginning.  Success in God’s eyes is not completing the whole task in one grand push; success is doing the one thing God told you to do and waiting for the next instruction.  Besides, if you knew the whole plan you would be a) completely overwhelmed and/or b) set off doing things your own way which results in c) a mess.