The world whizzed by as I sweltered in our little red Nissan Sentra. Driving west across the northern plains of the U.S., the sun baked the interior of the car. The wind coming through the windows wasn’t enough to cool us so I sometimes resorted to throwing ice down the back of my shirt to cool down my body temperature.

You see, we were driving from Wisconsin to Montana to my husband’s new job as pastor. We had just purchased this cute red car, but because we were moving to that northern state, we thought we wouldn’t need air conditioning. Who would have thought that temperatures would reach 102 degrees on the very day we reached our final destination of Missoula?

As we drove across the country, we used a map. (Yep, a paper map!) The map clearly indicated the best road to our destination. Take I-90 through Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana.

At one point in the drive, however, we started to question the route to our new home. What made us doubt our decision to follow God’s call to Montana? The lack of people! At one point in our drive through Wyoming, we saw cattle. We saw fields. But while traveling at 55 mph, we didn’t see a single vehicle or human for an entire hour. And when we did see a vehicle again, it was a pickup truck that hauled two spare tires and a gas can in the truck bed. Clearly, people living here were prepared for the wilderness. And we wondered: Would our new home in Missoula look like this? Maybe we should just turn around.

Although we had clarity of route, we didn’t always have clarity of heart.

Clarity of Heart

Abram, on the other hand, had clarity of heart even when he didn’t have clarity of route. He had chosen to obey God’s calling and went off before even knowing exactly where he would end up.

The book of Hebrews tells us,

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.  (Hebrews 11:8-10)

Let’s examine this passage a little more closely.

By faith Abram “went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). We don’t know the specifics of how God guided Abram to the land of Canaan. Did God speak to Abram? Did He use people along the way to give him directions? I know I would have liked a few giant road signs along the way that said, “Abram, turn left here!” I’m sure the traveler from Ur would have liked a detailed map and clear road signs just as much as I do. But what does God desire? To build faith.

Faith is the Opposite of Clarity

Hebrews 11:1 defines faith this way: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (emphasis added). 

In other words, faith is the opposite of clarity. We all want clarity. When I searched the word clarity on the internet, my search engine came up with 600,000,000 items on the subject. We want clarity in work, in relationships, in financial decisions. Couldn’t someone just tell us the right way to go? The best thing to do?

But if we have clarity, we don’t need faith. Clarity means we can already distinguish which direction to go. Because God always desires to strengthen our faith, sometimes He withholds clarity. To build Abram’s faith, He didn’t provide all the details of the patriarch’s journey. In the same way, while God assures us of our final destination in heaven, He doesn’t point out all the twists, turns, detours, avalanches, and bridge closings we’ll encounter ahead of time because He wants to build our trust in Him and His turn-by-turn directions as we need them.

Because God always desires to strengthen our faith, sometimes He withholds clarity.

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This post is an excerpt from my book Divine Directions: How God Guides Your Path–a Bible study of eight journeys in the Bible. As you study Abraham’s journey to Canaan, Ruth’s journey from Moab, the path of the Magi, and five others, you will glean principles for your own life journey and decision-making.

Divine Directions: How God Guides Your Path will help you:

• Discover biblical principles for seeking God’s guidance
• Learn about important journeys in the Bible
• Embrace God’s wisdom and timing in your life path
• Use a four-step process when making decisions

Learn more about the book here:

Get the book!