Farther Along from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Today, I want to talk about dealing with things we don't understand. For there will be times in life when the path gets dark, and we have to walk by faith. I want to start with Psalm 119.

Psalm 119:105 NKJV Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.

The lamp in this Psalm is an oil lamp that casts only a small circle of light. When traveling at night, it was just enough to see a few steps ahead. If you wanted to see farther, you had to take another step, and the circle of light moved with you.

Walking with the Lord is similar to that. He usually speaks to us about something, but then it's our turn to act. When we take action, the lamp moves with us, and something new appears. In my life, I have sometimes moved forward quickly, and other times I have just sat there, stalled. The rule is that you stay with the last word given until a new one comes.

Consider the Apostle Paul and his companions in Acts chapter 16:

Acts 16:6-10 NKJV: Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

The Apostle Paul was on his second missionary journey, visiting all the churches he had established during the first trip, when the Holy Spirit intervened and stopped their progress. He didn't provide a new direction either; He simply closed the door to where they were headed. Paul tried another route, but the Spirit "did not permit them" to go there either. So, they followed the only path that was open to them, which led to Troas. There, the Holy Spirit spoke to Paul in a dream, and they realized they were to travel to Macedonia. That was how the Gospel first came to Europe.

The Holy Spirit did not reveal to the great Apostle Paul where he was going until he was in the right place to hear. Our understanding comes farther down the road. We can connect the dots when looking backward, while only God can connect them looking forward.

All the great people of faith in the Bible lived like this. Noah quietly built an ark in his yard while everyone else was partying, because that is what the Lord told him to do (Luke 17:27). Abraham left his homeland, his father's house, and his family without knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). The Lord filled in the blanks for him later as they were needed.

Moses spent forty years tending sheep and then forty years caring for God's people in the wilderness, following the Lord's guidance each day. In (Numbers 9:21-23), it explains that the Israelites followed the Lord daily. He did not follow them; they had to follow Him.

Numbers 9:21-23 NKJV So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. At the command of the LORD they remained encamped, and at the command of the LORD they journeyed; they kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

Joseph was loved by his dad, but was sold into slavery by his brothers and taken to Egypt, where he was imprisoned for years before he became second in command to Pharaoh (Genesis 41:41-42).

David ran and hid from King Saul, his father-in-law, for years before he became king (1 Samuel 21:10). I am sure David and Joseph both had questions about what was going on with God's game plan.

Like the Apostle Paul, we may not always understand where we're headed or why something is happening. We are given the information we need for today, and more will be provided tomorrow. It involves following the Lord as He guides us, day by day. The Lord doesn't overwhelm us with too much information or things that are too complicated for us to see yet.

Before we started Refreshing Hope, we had a computer business. After twenty years of working on computers, the Lord began to shut it down, and no amount of prayer, fasting, giving, or advertising could fix it. I looked for work everywhere but couldn't find a job doing anything. I couldn't understand what was going on. Why was He allowing this to happen to us after we had served Him faithfully for years?

I was badgering the Lord about it, lying on the floor praying, but I wasn't getting an answer. The Lord often speaks to me through music. So one night, I had a vivid dream of my older brother Randy, who had passed on, playing his guitar and singing an old hymn. The words were slightly different and more personal than the actual hymn and went like this:

Farther along, we'll know all about it.

Farther along, we'll understand why.

Cheer up my brother, live in the sunshine.

We'll understand it, all by and by.

Then, the week we were preparing to move out of our home, a job opened up as a pastor—one thing led to another, and now I am here writing this.

Ministry was what the Lord wanted us to do, but I would never have taken a job as a pastor if we had not been hungry. I love it now, but I had worked in computers for twenty years and was comfortable doing that. I would not have entered a new career at forty-five if He hadn't forced me.

Now I use those skills that I learned along the way to do what we do here each day. We build our own servers and websites from scratch. We write and record our own music. Today I understand why He did things the way that He did, and it makes perfect sense. He trained us then for what we are doing now. We couldn't be here doing this without having first been there doing that.

The answer you're looking for is usually farther down the road. We go from checkpoint A to checkpoint B, and He gives us what we need to get from one to the next, but you don't get to see the whole trip before you start. No one does. It is only the Lord who knows the end from the beginning.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, Your word is a lamp to my feet. Please guide me and speak to me in a way that I understand. I want to follow You closely and be in tune with what You are doing today. Give me a clear vision and draw me and my family to You. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!

Footnote: This was the Holy Spirit speaking to me through a dream to encourage me, using people I know, and not my actual brother. We don't communicate with the dead, and they don't communicate with us. Evil spirits, familiar spirits who knew the deceased well, can be very convincing. We do not talk, pray, or communicate with the dead. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12), (Isaiah 8:19-20), (Luke 16:26).