When the Way Forward is Unclear
Imagine spending three years of your life with a friend, sharing meals, conversations, ordinary days, and dreams for the future. Then, one day, you learn that your time together is coming to a sudden end. The future you imagined shifts, and you find yourself grieving not only the person you love but also the time you thought you would share.
Where do we turn when the life we imagined suddenly feels unfamiliar? What do we do when the way forward is unclear or we feel utterly lost?
I imagine this was exactly how Jesus’ disciples felt when he told them, “I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:3-4). Going away? That wasn’t how this was supposed to end. The disciples had left everything and dedicated three years of their lives to follow Jesus, and now he’s leaving?
Distraught, the disciples declare they don’t know where Jesus is going. Is he abandoning them? A few hours later, when Jesus is apprehended and then crucified, the last shred of hope gives way to despair. All they thought Jesus was, would do, and be, slips away. Their faith falters. It appears all is lost. They feel lost.
Isn’t that similar to our lives? Sometimes our expectations and efforts don’t match the outcome. We work hard to reach our goals, show up in our relationships, to shape order out of chaos, but our best efforts fail. A wrench in the plan wreaks havoc. A fissure bursts the level ground of our lives. Circumstances split our dreams in two. We lose something dear to us. At such times, the ache of loss settles in deep. No contingency plan can fix all that has broken. All seems lost. We feel lost.
Jesus speaks into our confusion with this gentle reassurance: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1). He offers this tender reminder to the disciples amid their distress, even as he grapples with his own. Driven by sacrificial love, Jesus was paving a way forward for eternity. After Jesus’ death, the disciples were devastated, bewildered, and disillusioned, yet, despite appearances, God's perfect plan was unfolding. Things hadn’t fallen apart; they had fallen perfectly into place.
Haven’t we felt the same bewilderment at some point in our lives? Jesus’ words of reassurance reach into our pain, loss, and lostness and anchor our trembling hearts. When Jesus says, "Let not your heart be troubled" he does so aware of the big picture. We only see a small fragment, the smallest portion of this ruinous moment, but God sees it all.
When all we see is disaster and lost dreams, it’s not the end of our story. We can find a way to take Jesus at his word. To trust that even though the situation appears hopeless—as it did with the cross—with Jesus there is always hope. We can trust that he is working things for good far beyond what is visible in this moment. That even when our circumstances appear to be falling apart, there is still hope for them to fall into place.
When Thomas asks, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5), Jesus shifts the conversation to a much deeper level and responds, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus gently adjusts our focus and reminds us of the most important truth. Want to know the way? It is only found in Jesus, both for this day, for the uncertain days ahead, and for eternity.
When the immediate cares of this life crowd in, when we feel the sting of hurt or loss, when we run out of resources to fix things, when we are blindsided by the 180-degree turn in our life’s path, or feel temporarily unsure of our location, Jesus’ words puncture the gauzy film and say, “I am the Way.” At such times, we learn what it means to trust the One we declare to follow. To take him at his word when he says, “Let not your heart be troubled.”
We may lack the resources to mend all that has broken, but we never lack God’s help to navigate life’s misdirection or upheavals. Jesus finds us in our lostness and leads us through the darkness. We need only enough faith to reach for his hand and take the next step. Despite how we may feel or how circumstances appear, Jesus is always with us. He is the way forward in your current turmoil, through every shadowy turn, and into the life to come.
What if releasing our curated life makes room for the life God has chosen for us? What if instead of mourning our fallen-apart plans we fall into Jesus’ outstretched arms? What would happen if we ceased worrying, as Jesus suggested, and brought our troubled hearts to him to mend? What if we tossed our detailed roadmap of our life’s path and focused on the route to eternity through the One who tells us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6), and fully entrust our fragile lives to his care?
Maybe we don’t need every answer, when the answer to everything is Jesus. He’s the answer to our wayward wandering, to our fearful fretting over the future, and to the persistent pain from life’s unexpected detours. He’s the answer to the hole in our hearts nothing can fill. When we reach the end of ourselves, Jesus is waiting with arms stretched wide offering this simple truth: “I am the Way, the truth and the life.” When we absorb this truth, and our hope is rightfully placed in Jesus, we no longer stumble fearfully alone but find our way forward with him.
