The Route You Wouldn't Have Chosen

Anyone who uses Waze knows the feeling. You type in your destination, and the app tells you to turn left when every instinct says go right. It routes you down a quiet neighborhood street when the highway seems faster. You grip the wheel, skeptical, maybe even annoyed. But Waze sees what you cannot — a three-car pileup two miles ahead, construction narrowing traffic to a single lane, a closure you would have discovered only after it was too late to turn around.

The app processes data from thousands of drivers in real time. It holds a picture of the road that is infinitely larger than the one visible through your windshield. And it asks one thing of you: follow the next turn.

Obedience to God works the same way. He rarely shows us the full route. He does not explain why this door closes or that path bends in an unexpected direction. He simply says, "Trust Me with the next step." Proverbs 3:5-6 puts it plainly: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."

The difference, of course, is that Waze occasionally gets it wrong. God never does. He sees every obstacle, every delay, every danger you cannot. Your job is not to understand the entire route. Your job is to take the next turn He reveals — and trust that the One who sees the whole map is leading you exactly where you need to go.