Making a Way

 

So, you’ve been in a great space for years, everything you put your hand to works out smoothly, you pray, and God answers. His blessings in your life are undeniable. But then, suddenly the mountaintop gives way, and you find yourself in an avalanche of unfortunate circumstances.

Things just aren’t going your way anymore. And God, He is silent, distant. You feel as if you’ve been left abandoned in the wilderness.

 No longer confident about anything, you seem to be in a time of uncertainty.

God had blessed Leah with fertility, but then suddenly, she stopped bearing children. She must have felt the emptiness of rejection. Jacob, her husband, was sure to ostracize her even more than before.

In those days, servants were considered property. Upon her marriage, Laban, Leah’s father had given her Zilpah. Zilpah was her servant, her property. With her womb now closed, Leah came up with a plan to make a way back into Jacob’s favour.

When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing [children], she took Zilpah her maid and gave her to Jacob as a [secondary] wife. Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “How fortunate!” So she named him Gad (good fortune). Zilpah, Leah’s maid, gave birth to a second son for Jacob. Then Leah said, “I am happy! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher (happy). – Genesis 30:9-13 (AMP)

Leah “gave birth” to two more boys through Zilpah’s open womb. Leah was making a way in her wilderness.

Leah giving her maid to her husband, was making her own way in her time of uncertainty, her wilderness.

Beloved, how many times have you tried making a way in your wilderness for your own personal gain? How did that work out for you? It did not effect change to Leah’s love-starved marriage.

Waiting on God is not easy. Leah felt that she could no longer wait on the God whom she had once trusted. Instead, as a lovelorn wife desperate to escape her predicament, Leah chose to use her maid to regain her status.

“For women will call me happy.”

What a tragic motive. What’s yours? What is motivating you to make your own way and from whom are you seeking validation?

When you take matters into your own hands because you feel that you can no longer wait on God, you, like Leah, step into a state of unbelief.

When you choose to use others to achieve your desires rather than delighting yourself in God and waiting on Him to act, then you are walking in unbelief.

When you find yourself in a situation but choose to make your own way instead of trusting God for a solution, then you are operating in unbelief.

Making a way for yourself cheats you out of experiencing God’s wonderful hand at work in your life. God’s solutions are far better than your own. He says, I am making a way in the wilderness (Isaiah 43:19).

On this spiritual journey, you will go through the wilderness at some point in time and more than likely, several times after that. Even though it feels like abandonment, it’s not, it’s God doing a new thing, but we get so caught up in our own desire for Him to act right away, that our faith is diminished and we don’t perceive it.

What Leah misunderstood and what you must understand, is that your status does not change in the wilderness. Desperation can cause you to seek out your own solutions instead of seeking God first but He has to be your first option.

God isn’t avoiding you. He has not forgotten you. He is working on your behalf, just wait.

Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14 NASB)

Beloved, no matter how long you may have to wait for your circumstances to change, know that your God is working things out in your favour. Avoid the temptation of making a way for yourself, learn to be content in any situation assured that the power of Christ will give you the strength to face all conditions (see Philippians 4:11-13).

Amen †

 

Shelley Johnson “Making a Way” © October 1, 2025

 

 

Trust, Delight, Commit, and Wait

 

 

Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

According to Psalm 37 verse 4, there’s a way for each one of us to see our desires fulfilled, we have to delight ourselves in the Lord. But before that can happen there are three other steps that we must take that will ensure that we receive the desires of our hearts.

God is a God of order, He never does anything haphazardly. The account of Creation is a prime example of the orderly way in which God carries out His tasks. God’s way is a step-by-step process that cannot fail, and it will serve you well to follow His sequence. Skipping steps is foolhardy at best.

When God gives you a promise there are four crucial steps that you must follow if you are to experience the fulfillment of your desires. Each step in this sequence, found in verses 3, 4, 5, and 7 of Psalm 37, has a name and can be applied to every area of your life.

 

• The first step is Trust.

Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, I will certainly do it. (Isaiah 46:11 NASB)

Trust in God, rely on Him, take refuge in Him, submit to Him, and be confident that what He says He will do, He will certainly do. It’s trusting God wholeheartedly, giving Him full control of every situation in your life and allowing Him to have His way. Placing your trust in neighbours, friends, family, or even yourself, is likely to result in failure but God will never fail you, for He is faithful and does not change.

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9 NASB)

 

• The second is Delight.

Come close to God and He will come close to you. (James 4:8 NASB)

Delight yourself in God. You do that by keeping close company with God so that you get to know Him intimately and savour His ways. It’s allowing your will to be aligned to His so that He becomes all in all in your life, causing you to earnestly and passionately seek Him first and eagerly give up your heavy-laden labour to Him. When you delight yourself in God, you see Him and embrace Him as your Abba, Father.

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15 NASB)

 

• The next step is Commit.

 Commit to the Lord whatever you do… (Proverbs 16:3a NIV)

Commit everything to God – your walk, your cause, your ways, your vision, your goals, your intentions, your plans, your family, and your entire life. It’s relinquishing your control of every single situation and circumstance that concerns you, good and bad, and allowing God to take over completely. It’s taking your hands off of your life and placing it squarely in His in utter dependence on Him. When you commit in this manner, God promises to act on your behalf to bring about the desires of your heart which are no longer outside of His will for you. God can now be God in your life, for your good and His glory.

 …and he will establish your plans. (Proverbs 16:3b NIV)

 

• The last in this list is Wait.

For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. (Habakkuk 2:3 ESV)

To wait patiently for God is seldom an act of passive patience. It’s actively and expectantly waiting on God’s perfect timing. God is never late; everything God says will happen will surely be fulfilled. Waiting on God means to not give up but to remain steadfast in your trust in Him, daily delighting yourself in Him, and resolutely committing all to Him. It’s having a steady belief in God despite what appears to be a delay. When you’re waiting on God take courage and do not get frustrated or weary but instead consistently thank Him as you keep in mind that there’s an appointed time for every matter under heaven. Be patient in your waiting and God promises to be good to you.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:25-26 ESV)

 

Beloved, if you follow these steps as ordered by God, His perfect will for your life is guaranteed to come to pass because your heartfelt desires will align with God’s desires for you, and when they do, He will establish your very thoughts, then blessings will follow in ways beyond your imagination.

Amen †

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shelley Johnson “Trust, Delight, Commit, and Wait” © 2016 revisited October 1, 2025