When You Feel Lost | How To Find Your Way

I’m severely directionless. I can’t explain why, but maps paralyze me.

No matter where I am, north simply means straight up toward heaven. That’s why I had to rely on my teenaged daughter to navigate our way around Europe.

Following a map—even if it talks—is confusing and frustrating for me.

But there’s a tool I use to guide me that I believe will help you when you feel lost and need to find your way.  

 

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU FEEL LOST

 

I do a lot of driving. My youngest daughter lives 11 hours away, my mom’s house is three hours from mine, and another daughter lives in a town two hours down the road. In a typical month I visit at least two of those spots, if not all three.

Sometimes I’m forced to take detours. Other times I exit the highway for gas and then get  turned around.

Nine times out of ten, when I attempt to make sense of my navigational map, I panic. Years of getting lost make me anxious that one day I won’t be able to find my way.

So, I’ve learned to take a deep breath and  zoom out. That way I can see the bigger picture. And even though I likely still won’t be able to figure out where I am, I can at least aim my car in the right direction.

That’s pretty much what Moses did. He kept aiming for the right direction.

 

 

WHEN YOU FEEL LOST, TRY LOOKING AT LIFE FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

 

When God delivered His people from Egyptian slavery, He put Moses in charge. For 40 years Moses led the Israelites on a wilderness journey that resulted from their stubbornness and lack of faith.

During their journey, there were countless hardships. The people grumbled and constantly cried out to Moses. The path they were on seemed to make no sense at all.

At times Moses appeared to be in the same panicky mode I get into when my navigational map is zoomed in too close. His circumstances loomed large and didn’t look at all like a detour to a better place.

When God’s people frustrated the fire out of him, Moses got a little irritable. When circumstances looked bleak, he questioned God. And when he couldn’t figure out how God was working, he came close to throwing the towel in.

 

Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”
Exodus 17:4

 

Oh, how I can relate.

In many seasons of my life, my lens of faith was zoomed in so close, all I could see was what was in front of me. My circumstances overwhelmed me. Sometimes I panicked because I couldn’t figure out how to get where I wanted my life to be. Other times I was bitter because when you feel lost, everything seems unfair.

When we stay zoomed in, our lives look fuzzy and uncertain. They don’t make sense. We can’t tell where we’re headed. And we’re too spiritually shortsighted to see that our lives are not about us in the first place.

 

 

WHEN YOU FEEL LOST, TRY ZOOMING OUT

 

Fortunately, Moses didn’t stay zoomed in. He hit that zoom button and looked long and hard at the big picture. The Bible says he was looking forward to the blessings he would never see.

 

He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.

Hebrews 11:26 (The Living Bible)

 

 

He believed God would do what He said He’d do. And he sensed there was more at stake than what he could see with his eyes or envision in his mind.

 

 

By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king’s anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:27

 

God works in ways we can’t see

 

In other words, Moses was convinced that God’s plan was bigger than the path he could see in front of him.

At the end of his 40-year journey of faith and obedience, Moses was led to the top of a mountain where God showed him the land He had promised.

The Promised Land.

It’s what Moses had been aiming for all along.

I can’t read the verses without tears in my eyes.

 

Then Moses climbed from the plains of Moab to Pisgah Peak in Mount Nebo, across from Jericho. And the Lord pointed out to him the Promised Land, as they gazed out across Gilead as far as Dan…
Deuteronomy 34:1

 

Moses wasn’t allowed to enter because he’d stumbled along the way. But our gracious God led the old man up the mountain. And He gave Moses a glimpse of the promise was about to fulfill.

 

WHEN YOU FEEL LOST, REMIND YOURSELF OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS

 

I like to imagine how Moses must have felt.

Probably a lot like I feel looking back over my life.

When I zoom waaaaayyy out to see the entire landscape of my life, I’m blown away by God’s faithfulness. At the time, I couldn’t figure out what He was doing or why He allowed things to happen like they did. But God was at work.

 

Your way went through the sea and your path through the vast water, but your footprints were unseen.

Psalm 77:19

 

I didn’t always see God working and I often didn’t understand His plan, but God was faithful. Even when I wasn’t.

 

 

 

EVEN WHEN YOU FEEL LOST,  GOD IS AT WORK

 

When we zoom out. we see that God’s plan for our lives on earth stretches from the day we’re born all the way into eternity. And, in His sovereign design, He supernaturally intermingles our lives with others. In other words, my life is about more than just me.

On God’s timeline, the span of our earthly lives is a tiny dot too miniscule to see with the naked eye. Yet, in that quick-as-a-blink span of time, our lives have enough potential and power to influence eternity!

That’s because the God Who Is and Was and Always Will Be is at work in the life of every born-again believer.

And ultimately, as we put one foot in front of the other in a faithful walk with Christ, He is glorified because His power and faithfulness are on display.

 

I will give you all the proof you want that Christ speaks through me. Christ is not weak in his dealings with you but is a mighty power within you. His weak, human body died on the cross, but now he lives by the mighty power of God. We, too, are weak in our bodies, as he was, but now we live and are strong, as he is, and have all of God’s power to use in dealing with you.

2 Corinthians 13:3-4

Don’t focus on what you feel. Focus on what’s true.

 

When we’re in the trenches of heartache, disappointment, or difficulty, it’s hard to see anything beyond our own feelings, doubts and fears.

That’s why, when you feel lost, it’s important to force yourself to zoom out.

To see it from God’s perspective and not our own.

 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9

 

BIBLICAL TRUTHS TO HELP YOU ZOOM OUT WHEN YOU FEEL LOST—

 

 

• This life  is not all there is. We’re just passing through  on our way to a heavenly home.

 

But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is; and we are looking forward to his return from there. When he comes back, he will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer all else everywhere.
Philippians 3:20-21

• God has never left us.

 

Your way went through the sea and your path through the vast water, but your footprints were unseen.
Psalm 77:19

 

• In God’s presence there’s always hope.

 

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

 

• Our lives have eternity in them.

 

For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands.
2 Corinthians 5:1

 

• God keeps His promises. He’ll never leave us. 

 

We wait for the LORD; he is our help and shield. For our hearts rejoice in him because we trust in his holy name. May your faithful love rest on us, LORD, for we put our hope in you.
Psalm 33:20-22

Below are some scriptures to hold onto when life doesn’t make sense. They’re also available as a printable in my free resource library!

SCRIPTURES TO HOLD ONTO WHEN YOU FEEL LOST

I will instruct you (says the Lord) and guide you along the best pathway for your life; I will advise you and watch your progress.
Psalm 32:8  (The Living Bible)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6  (Christian Standard Bible)

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39  CSB

I call to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
Psalm 57:2  CSB

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.
Psalm 119:105  CSB

For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised.
Hebrews 10:36  CSB

But you are not like that, for you have been chosen by God himself—you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own—all this so that you may show to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9  (TLB

I know that you can do anything and no plan of yours can be thwarted.
Job 42:2  CSB

Listen to counsel and receive instruction so that you may be wise later in life. Many plans are in a person’s heart, but the LORD’s decree will prevail.
Proverbs 19:20-21  CSB

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation.
Psalm 33:11  CSB

I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.
Isaiah 46:10  CSB

However, I have let you live for this purpose: to show you my power and to make my name known on the whole earth.
Exodus 9:16  CSB

 

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