Throughout life, we make choices. One of the most important ones, of course, is to accept the free gift of salvation and enter into the promise of eternal salvation. But God doesn’t save us and immediately take us to Heaven. Instead, we are left here on earth to do the work of He who died for us and to follow Him where He leads.

I have been reading the story of the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. A lot of things have caused me to ponder but none more than the fact that God led them. They didn’t tell God, “Yeh, we have the map. We know where we’re going, so follow us.” God led them, on a circuitous route to be certain, but on the way He wanted them to go so that they could learn the lessons He needed them to learn.

God does the same for us. He will lead us as surely as He led the Israelites, away from sin and closer to our Promised Land, closer to Him. We have a tendency to get impatient and want to strike out on our own. Like an untamed horse, we don’t want a bridle or reins to guide us. Or like a toddler, we say to God, “I can do it myself.” But when we try and fail, we end up turning back to the place where we started and starting again. God is the leader, and we are not.

How do you know where God is leading you? You train yourself to listen and to hear His voice. He is as close as our next prayer, waiting for us to be still enough to hear Him. Instead, we have the television on or the music blaring from our device. The ads tell us we need a certain product, so we either rush to buy it or put it on our list of things to look for. Who’s leading us in these times of overwhelming noise? God is the leader, if we will listen for His voice to tell us the direction to go in.

I am short and getting shorter, and my stride has never been long. Often, I accuse my husband of not even realizing I am fallen far behind him because his stride is longer and his pace is brisk. I tell him that if I fall, he won’t even know it unless I shout out because he stays so far ahead of me. I like this verse because it reminds me that the Holy Spirit never walks too fast for me; rather, He walks with me every step of the way. He is there to help me to follow the Father, the leader of my life.

I am sure everyone reading this remembers playing the childhood game of “Follow the Leader.” The position of leader was held in esteem because they were the one who had us crawling on the ground, going down slides and swinging from monkey bars. God is the leader of our lives, always, if we give up the position of wanting to lead for ourselves or letting other people lead us. We can go astray; others may lead us astray. But God leads us in the way He wants us to go so that we will learn the lessons He needs us to learn. I am being led by a loving Father who knows what is best for me, and I hope that you are, too. This is not a once and done choice but a choice I make daily, to be still before God and find out His marching orders for me for that day.