Has there ever been a time in your life where it felt like your relationship with God continued to grow more and more distant?  So to try and fix things we want to recreate situations or environments where we have experienced God in the past.  However, so many times to our discouragement, we still feel this distance.  Have you ever thought about why?

When Moses sent the spies to check out the promise land, they were overwhelmed by the thought of overtaking such intimidating people.  After all there were giants in the land.  Most of the spies wanted to retreat back to Egypt where they had spent the last 400 years as slaves.  Why would they want to go back to those lives?  Slaves again?  What would be so appealing about going back?  Think about it.  It was safe.  They knew what would happen day by day.  Of course it was not freedom, but there was no worry about what they would eat or what they would do.  They would make bricks.  They wanted to go back to where God had already taken them rather than to push forward to the new place God was leading them.

In our lives many times we try to find God in the places He has already taken us.  Maybe we do not find Him there because He wants to lead us to a new place in our walk with Him.  This is a new place we have not been.  Yet, just like ten of the twelve spies we want to go back, because in going back there is safety in the routine, even if it is a routine we did not like when we were there the first time.  We find safety in the routine because we are never forced to rely on anyone but our self.  However, to allow God to lead us into a new place we have not been, it requires us to trust God leading us through what we do not see.

Where is God calling you to right now that you have not been?  What scares you about taking the next step in this journey?  Maybe it is a job?  Maybe a relationship or friendship?  Maybe sharing your faith with a friend?  Maybe a new ministry?  Maybe the amount you give?  Maybe coming clean about your past or a sin you currently feel trapped in? Could it be the anxiety you are experiencing stems from your desire to go back to a place God has already taken you rather than following him into the unknown.

Today, may you trust God, who has led you to this place in your life, will continue to lead you, as you faithfully follow Him in the next steps of your journey.

^NIV Numbers 14:6-9  ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes  ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.  ⁸ If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.  ⁹ Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”