1 Samuel 9:3 (NKJV)
“Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, ‘Please take one of the servants with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.’”

Our journeys to destiny are not always certain and straightforward, but one thing we do know, God is leading us into His perfect and sovereign plan for our lives. Sometimes, it does not seem like our journey is going anywhere, but if we are walking with Him, even our roundabout journey is leading us somewhere in God’s definite plan for our lives. Through the ordinary, the painful, and the joyful – we are being led forward. There are some things written in the books of heaven about us that we cannot fully understand or decipher, and there are things God wants to do through us that we currently have no clue about. God has great plans for our lives, plans of good and not of evil. Knowing this should be a great comfort to us, even when we don’t understand the landscape of our current journey. Imagine the Israelites standing before the Red Sea and wondering why God would bring them to this place of seeming impossibility. Yet, it was in that place of impossibility that God revealed His power to them. God had a clear plan to take them to the Promised Land, and God’s plan was to display His power through the Red Sea. Our journey may include facing some Red Seas, but we are never alone. In fact, those Red Seas were intentionally put there so that God could reveal Himself to us in new ways.

You are on a journey to destiny just as Saul was, and God will use even your unpleasant circumstances to push you toward your place of blessing. There are specific things written about you and God will not let you go until He fulfills them in your life. Could God have intentionally caused Saul’s father’s donkey to be lost? Could God have been the One who put it into Saul’s father’s heart to send Saul to go look for the lost donkeys – knowing that He (God) had already prepared Samuel to anoint Saul as king? It seemed like God was working out the details of Saul’s life, even without Saul’s permission, approval, or cooperation. Wasn’t that the same thing that happened with David, Saul’s successor?

It’s so beautiful to see that God is working out “all things together” for our good. It’s so encouraging to belong to a God who knows every detail of our lives, and is able to lead us into His perfect will for us – even when we don’t understand or consciously co-operate. This understanding should give us peace and rest on our life journey. This understanding should give us hope and confidence even when we journey through the valley of the shadow of death. Even in our blindness and confusion, the secret hand of God is working in the background. He knows where He is taking us. He knows how to get us there. He knows what we will meet on the journey. He has prepared helpers on the way to take us to the next phase. We don’t have to understand the details of what God is doing. We simply need to believe that He is working for our good, and for His grand purpose – for our lives and for our generation. We are not just insignificant dots in the cosmic plan of the universe. We are fearfully and wonderfully made by the Creator of the universe, and with all His power, He is shaping us and leading us into His best plans for our lives.