“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” ~Job 23:8-10~
At 35,000 feet, it is nearly impossible to sense how quickly an airplane is moving.
On my return flight from San Juan, I sat in an aisle seat while nearly every window shade around me remained closed. I knew we were traveling generally north and northwest toward Atlanta, but I could not see the ocean beneath us. I could not watch the clouds pass. I could not identify a coastline, city, or landmark.
There was no visible evidence of our speed, progress, or direction.
From inside the darkened cabin, we could have been flying more than five hundred miles per hour or sitting completely still. Unless I looked at the flight tracker, I had no way of knowing where we were, how far we had traveled, or how much farther remained.
Yet I was not empty-handed.
I was returning with memories of people I love, photographs of places I had seen, roads I had walked, and lessons I did not want to forget. I carried mementos of where I had been and memories of those who had walked beside me.
But none of them could show me the way ahead.
There are seasons when faith feels much the same.
We can remember what God has done before. We can look back at prayers He answered, doors He opened, and places where His hand was unmistakable. We carry photographs in our minds and testimonies in our hearts.
But memories of yesterday do not always provide a map for tomorrow.
Sometimes the shades are closed.
We cannot see where we are going. We cannot sense progress. We may feel changes taking place without understanding where they are leading. Something shifts. The aircraft banks. A familiar season begins to turn, but we cannot identify the new direction.
We know we are no longer where we were, but we have not yet arrived where we are going.
Job understood that disorientation.
He looked forward, but God did not appear to be there. He looked backward and could not perceive Him. He searched to the left, where he knew God was working, but could not behold Him. He looked to the right, and God remained hidden.
Every direction Job searched seemed empty.
Yet notice what Job said about the left hand:
“Where he doth work.”
Job could not see God, but he still acknowledged that God was working.
That is faith in its most honest form. It does not pretend the window is open when it is closed. It does not deny the darkness, disguise the uncertainty, or claim to understand a route that remains hidden.
Faith simply refuses to interpret limited visibility as divine absence.
Job could not perceive God—but God had not lost sight of Job.
“But he knoweth the way that I take.”
Job did not know the way, but God did.
Job could not see the route, but God could.
Job could not identify his present location or understand the purpose of the journey, but heaven had not misplaced him.
The same is true for us.
There will be times when we cannot see what God is doing. We may not understand why a familiar path changed, why a door closed, why a season ended, or why the next destination has not yet appeared. We may feel the turn long before we understand the direction.
But our inability to see the route never means the Pilot has lost it.
God does not need us to understand the flight plan in order to complete it. He sees beyond the closed shade. He knows our present position, the conditions ahead, and the destination He has appointed.
The silence does not mean He has left the cockpit.
The darkness does not mean the aircraft has stopped moving.
And the absence of visible landmarks does not mean we are lost.
You may not know where this season is taking you. You may look forward, backward, left, and right without finding the answers you desperately want.
But God knows the way that you take.
For now, that may have to be enough.
And faith says that it is.
Final Word:
When I cannot see the way ahead, I can still trust the One who already knows it.
