The Center of His Will

"All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's paths to follow our own."

Isaiah 53:6

Do you ever find yourself wondering if you are in fact in the center of God's will for your life? Every day we make decisions about our life that not only affect our own lives but the lives of others in our life as well. Sometimes our decisions find us wondering if in fact we have made the right choices because the wrong ones can be life shattering when in turn the right ones can bring a flood of blessings.

Many years ago I heard a great illustration about how being at the very center of God's will can be just like being right in the middle of a fast flowing river. The current is strongest in the center but slower toward the edge. When we are at the center of God's will for our lives, His guidance within our lives is strong and certain but when we drift away from His will we find His guidance to be a bit harder to discern and we move further from His protection and direction. It can mean moving from His perfect will to His permissive will and then to being completely out of His will.

The further we move from the center of His will the closer we get to being out of it all together and closer to living in our own pride and independence. Being out of His will only makes our life more difficult as we try and move ahead. We are certain to face more obstacles and troubles along the way as we manage to do it all in our own strength. As those obstacles come along, they cause us to move further and further from God's will and we find ourselves frustrated because His plan for our lives becomes unclear and decisions become harder to make. There just seems to be no clear direction. In the end, you end up feeling as if you are headed down the wrong road or you have definitely hit a dead end.

Sometimes when we recognize the place at which we have found ourselves, it is too late and life as well as God's plan has moved on and we may not be able to reenter where we left off. It is however never too late to enter back into the center of His will and He waits for you there. Do not be afraid to dive right back in and head back to the center of that river. Do not settle for the ankle deep or even a knee-deep place in that river but head right to where the river flows the fastest and find satisfaction and complete abandonment in being back in the center of the strongest and most certain will of God.