What Am I Going to Do With My Life?

I don’t know what to do with my life.  I hear recent high school grads and fledgling young adults pine over about decisions to be made and lives to be lived. Secretly, I am with them. Never mind, I’ve raised four kids and had more than few career successes. Somehow none of that matters when you are stuck on the question, what am I going to do with my life.

I should have learned by now that you can’t plan life out like a project. Even when you consider all the risks, stick to the budget and execute all the details – life happens. The outcome we were working toward isn’t coming out. Instead of the desired deliverable we get the dreaded news. There is a whole list of mid-life, it’s-not-supposed-to-happen-like-this moments that leave us begging the question, what am I going to do with my life.

Broken relationships. Tragic loss. Health crisis. Disasters. Regret.

What are we supposed to do when we don’t know even know where to begin? I could give you the easy Christian answer. Pray. Study God’s Word. Worship. And oh, seek wise counsel. But the truth is, I’ve done all that and the only clear answer is there is no clear answer. Not this time.

But there is a story from God’s  unfailing Word  that speaks to my heart.

This one caught me a little off guard. Me and lepers. Two peas in a pod. The scriptures don’t tell us how exactly they ended up with leprosy, just that they were afflicted and outcast. It is possible their leprosy was a result of their sin. It is also possible they are just caught in a world broken by sin.

“Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gate. ‘Why should we sit here waiting to die?’ they asked each other. ‘We will starve if we stay here, but with the famine in the city, we will starve if we go back there. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aremean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway.’” 2 Kings 7:3-5

And here they sit. Begging the question what are we going to do to stay alive? Sounds a little like what am I going to do with my life.

Long-story short, the lepers take a risk and do something. They are uncertain. The outcome is unclear. But they can’t go back to where they came from, and they can’t stay in the here and now.

Sound familiar? We often grieve the loss of what was. And because we don’t know what’s next, we find ourselves in a do-nothing state of sitting there, questioning, “what am I going to do with my life?”

We can learn a few things from our four lepers.

We are not supposed to do life alone.

They may have been wallowing together, but they ended up winning together. Whatever your sorrow, whatever your situation, know that you are not alone. There are others seeking an answer from the Savior. Find them. Join them. Take a risk on your fellow believer that they need you as much as you need them.

You don’t know what lies ahead.

The Word doesn’t say for certain, but it is likely the lepers knew the stories about the God of Israel.  And because they sat at the gate, it is possible they heard Elisha speak and prophesy of the Word of the Lord. A god who heals his people, helps his people and brings hope to his people. A god who brings judgment on the wicked to save his people. The God of Victory.

It wasn’t a great idea, but it was the only option. Walk straight in to the enemy camp and hope it all works out.  I’ve been there. No other option, no idea what lies ahead. But trusting the Lord that it will work – because the only other option is to sit and do nothing.

Take a chance in the darkness.

This  next point is perhaps my biggest lesson. The lepers were afraid, but they got up and took a chance. “So they arose at twilight…” (vs 5)  They set out in the dark and found treasure in the Light. When they first arrived at the abandoned camp it was still night. They went in and ate and drank. God filled their need. But he did more. In the dark of the night, they found silver and gold. As the night went on, they knew their treasure was to be shared and they returned to the gate before morning.

There is purpose in your pain.

Think about it. They left one night, having no idea what was going to happen, and returned with good news to save God’s people the next morning. In ways that our human minds could not dream up or imagine, God made the Syrians flee – at twilight (vs 6-7).  And the lepers, outcast and afflicted, were in the right place at the right time. If they had not been lepers… If they had not been outside the gate… Do you see my point?

The lepers left at twilight. The enemy fled at twilight. God’s timing is perfect. His plan is perfect. For you. For me.  He will use our circumstances to bring Glory to his name and purpose to our lives.

My dear friend, we can’t jump ahead to the end of our own story for the answers to all our questions. But we can read God’s word and know that he has a plan and it is good.

Take a chance, even when you can’t see what lies ahead. God has purpose for your pain. As he is preparing your heart to get up and do something, he is defeating the enemy you fear. And when you find the treasure he has waiting for you, you won’t be able to keep it to yourself.