Clarity in the Fog
The early morning fog clouded my path and hung over the lake as I prepared for my walk. The thick grayness mirrored my muddled thoughts. Heavy decisions laden with multiple weighty outcomes lay upon my soul like the dense fog. My mind busily ran down various pathways, extrapolating outcomes.
The trail before me was visible for a few yards, then disappeared into the grayness. I hesitated, questioning whether I should wait for the fog to clear before I began. However, I knew the path would reveal itself as I walked. I knew this path well. I had walked it many times. I stretched and started down the trail; gravel crunched beneath my feet as I prayed:
“Make me know your ways, Oh Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.” Psalm 25:4-5
I talked to God as I walked. ‘Lord, I want to do what’s right, I want to make the right decision. I want to follow You. Show me the path, Lord. I don’t know what to do. All I have is confusion; You are not the author of confusion. I need clarity.’
I continued following the gravel trail into the fog, praying as I walked. I was rounding the point of the lake and could trace its outline through the grayness. I knew exactly where I was; I had been here many times.
As I walked, He pressed this message into my soul: ‘Keep walking, you know this path well. Follow the path of truth—the truth you already know to be your bedrock. Follow the path of truth.’ I knew what He meant.
Clarity was dawning in my soul as I continued walking, but like the white-gray fog about me, objections arose, obscuring my way.
“But Lord, what if...?” and “How will I...?” “This is terrifying! I can’t make sense of it all.”
He continued pressing this message into my soul: ‘Follow the path of truth—the one I already showed you. Keep walking through the fog in obedience and faith. I will show you the next step, keep walking.’
I heaved up an involuntary sigh as I continued, tracing the outline of the woods I knew well. The gravel path continued to reveal itself as I walked. I noticed that the fog was changing. It was less gray and more white-gold. Within moments, the whiteness was pierced with shards of sunlight, illuminating my path and the lakeside in shimmering gold. I paused in its glow. Light was dawning.
Trusting obedience was my first step. As I walked that path, guided by the solid truth I already knew well, He would illuminate my way. I had walked this path many times. There was no need for fear—only trusting obedience.
As I followed, at some point on the journey, the light would cut through the grayness. The glow of His light would break into the golden glow of clarity that I sought.
As I finished my walk, I sat for a few moments on the bench beside the lake, marveling at the play of early morning sunlight dancing upon the dissipating fog. The heaviness within me was lifting as the light of truth burned away the swirling confusion within. As I turned to walk back to the house, clarity stretched before me as plainly as the path before me, and these truths from Scripture pressed themselves into my soul:
“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently before him; . . .” Psalm 37:5-7a