Ever wonder, “What is God’s purpose for my life?” God has a path for you, and when you walk in it, you can’t help but see the purpose in your life. So, how do you go about finding it? It’s easy. Just forward this post to 97 of your closest social media friends. After the 97th person reads it, a clear path and purpose for your life will be emailed to you in PDF format.
I’m kidding, but wouldn’t that be nice?
Okay, although it doesn’t work like that, there are steps to finding your story, your path.
Your purpose as a Christian begins with this: you were created to know God, glorify God, become more like Jesus Christ, and serve others in such a way that your daily life reflects His kingdom.
To unpack that this looks like, let’s look at the path God showed Moses.
Imagine yourself hopping in a time machine and ending up in Old Testament days. You find Moses and follow him as he leads his people away from Pharaoh’s army (see Exodus 14). It was an amazing time in human history. The miracles that had been performed up to this point were nothing short of, well, miraculous. Then you see Moses face an obstacle. A pretty big obstacle. It’s the Red Sea. Can you imagine what all the people were thinking? Great. This is it. We’re never going to make it now. There aren’t any miracles big enough to get us out of this one.
Then, God uses Moses to do the impossible. He tells Moses to pick up his staff and raise his hand over the sea—and what happens? The Red Sea parts and the Israelites get to walk through to the other side and escape Pharoah’s army on dry ground.
There’s a really cool verse in the book of Psalms that briefly recounts the story. It says:
Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there! Psalm 77:19
Discovering God’s Purpose for My Life
Let’s focus on that last line: a pathway no one knew was there. Moses had the same question, “What is God’s purpose for my life?” God promised He would use Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. God promises us that if we seek Him with all we’ve got, He will show us which path to take. He will show us our story.
Sometimes, when faced with significant opposition like losing a job or getting a bad diagnosis, we give up following God. We need to remember that God never promised life would be easy, but he did promise that we’d never be alone. Moses could’ve quit, yet though he couldn’t see it, he trusted God would pave the path He led him to take. So Moses did the thing God asked him to do and walked the way God asked him to go, even when it didn’t make sense.
Our paths are there. God’s purpose for your life is there. Your path may be covered up with pain, loss, parenting, work, busyness, or distraction right now, and no one—let alone you—can see it. So, seek God with all you’ve got, trust Him, and truly listen. Do the thing God is asking you to do. Then, you may not see the path immediately, but you’ll start hearing the wind. The wind pushes the waters back and shows you the path God already paved for you to take. Finally, when you step into your purpose, you may notice something—God’s strength has been bringing you this way all along.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:6 NLT