The Next Right Thing

(Photo from Pinterest)

     Imagine a scene.

     Imagine having a blindfold on, imagine being in the dark, in a room full of confusing background noises and things competing for your attention. People are pulling at you, yelling at you. There are a thousand possibilities as to what is beyond your body, in the world you can’t see, but you have no clue what they are. You have no clue what to do. 

     Now, stop imagining, because you’re living it: this is what life feels like a lot of the time.

     Even when we’re following Jesus, it can seem like we’re in the dark, with that blindfold securely around our eyes, with no clue of what to do next. That’s kind of what my life feels like, if I’m being honest: I’m in flux. I don’t know what to do or what my next step is. I’ve been in flux for a while. Let me tell you, flux is not a comfortable place to be. If you felt anxiety just thinking about that first paragraph, imagine the stress that comes from living it. 

     And I’m sure I’m not alone. 

     As much as we humans like to pretend like we’ve got it all together, I’d like to think that...none of us do, really. Sure, we have our goals: one person wants to be married. One person wants a dream job. One person wants kids. One person wants to move. There could be a hundred different things that we want. And when we encounter roadblocks on these “big dreams,” it can feel…

     Terrifying.

     Like the blindfold is just tightening into a noose. 

     Like we might never be able to rip it off our faces and see what’s in front of us. 

     And, the thing is: we can’t. 

     Not really. 

     Because in life, we can’t see what’s around the corner. The truth is that we don’t even know going to happen within the next minute, let alone the next day...the next month...the next year. Remember the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21)? The Rich Fool had all sorts of grand plans for himself: but God told him that very night he would die. 

     So what are we to do when we don’t know what to do?

     We do the next right thing.

     A song that God has really been speaking to me through lately doesn’t come from a worship band, but from Frozen 2. It’s Anna’s song: “The Next Right Thing.” Like I said before, my life right now is in flux. The blindfold is completely on tight. I don’t know what my next step is, or what it even should be. But I know that I must keep praying and “do the next right thing.”

     So, what is “the next right thing”?

     I can’t look at you and tell you what the next right thing is for you. I mean, if I could do that, I would have done that for my own life a long time ago. But there are certain things that we need to do—and none of them are particularly ground-breaking.

• Pray. I wanted to start this section by saying: “when in doubt, pray, pray, and pray some more.” But the truth is, there is so much more to praying than just when you are in doubt. This is a spiritual discipline that should never be overlooked. When you pray, you can receive a peace that goes beyond understanding. That doesn’t mean that you’re going to get what you pray for—that would make God more like a spiritual vending machine than God—but it does mean that you will feel the comfort that God is in control. That doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen to us, because we live in a fallen world. God said that the consequence of sin is a broken world. But while He never promises that He will save us from every bad thing that could happen to us, He does promise to never leave us. He does promise that, if we seek Him, His presence will always be with us. As Anna sings: “But a tiny voice whispers in my mind/You are lost/Hope is gone/But you must/Go on/And do the next right thing.” We all have those voices in our head that will tell us hope is gone when bad things happen, when prayers don’t get answered, or when we feel utterly lost in our own life. But by praying, we are opening up ourselves to God, to feel His peace, His knowledge, and His comfort as He tells us that we can go on. He will not leave or forsake us—and we cannot leave or forsake praying and believing in Him. 
• Bible verses: Jeremiah 29:12—“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”
• 1 John 5:14—“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”
• Ephesians 6:18—“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
• Read the Bible. Along with praying, this is a spiritual discipline that we need to cultivate in our life. We need to get into the habit of reading the Bible to see what God says about issues. One reason that we can feel lost in the world is that we have drifted away from God and His clear-cut messages. By reading His Word, we are able to remind and reassure ourselves of what God promises and His Truth. But, even if you read the Bible every day, you will always find something new. Why? Because God is always revealing something in it. You can read the same verses 4 times and, on the 5th time, get something out of it that you hadn’t before. You can never say, “Well, I’ve read the Bible once (or twice). I think I know everything about it.” You can never stop learning, never stop growing from reading the Bible. Because although it doesn’t change, you do. God will always have something new to teach you.
• Bible verses: Hebrews 4:12— “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17—“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
• Matthew 4:4—“Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’”
• Listen. Humans are, honestly, quite prideful and selfish. And we often treat God like a genie or come to Him only with requests or when things are dire. And when we do pray, we often think only of “me, me, me.” “God, bless me with this…” “God, help me do that…” In a subtle way, that’s our way of telling God what to do. Of saying: “God, I think I know what’s best in this situation, so let me tell You how I want this scenario to play out, m’kay?” So sometimes, as hard as it is in prayer, we have to shut up and listen. We need to stop telling God what to do and start listening to what He’s telling us to do. Now, I don’t have a formula for this, either. I can’t tell you what God’s voice or nudges will look or sound like to you, because they’re unique to the individual. Just like the lessons God teaches us are customized for us, so is the way that He can talk to us. I’m sure a million other people can listen to “The Next Right Thing” from a cartoon movie and not think anything about it. But that was a way that God spoke to me. So...just listen. Listen for the unexplainable. The tugging in your soul that lets you know what comes next. As the song says: “Then I’ll make the choice/To hear that voice/And do the next right thing.” We must choose to listen to God.
• Bible verses: Psalm 46:10—“Be still and know that I Am God.”
• Luke 11:28—“Blessed are those that hear the Word of God and obey it.”
• James 1:22—“Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Obey it.”
• Talk. This is a tricky part to balance, to be honest. A lot of people do not want to talk about their problems, for a myriad of reasons. Maybe they are too filled with pride and don’t want to show weakness. Maybe they don’t think anyone will care. Maybe they feel like they don’t have anyone to talk to (and, trust me, pick your confidante wisely—a godly person). Maybe they feel like, by sharing, they’ll be burdening other people. Sometimes, people talk about themselves too much and forget to listen. Sometimes their talking turns into gossip. Sometimes people put too much stock in what other people think or say and disregard what the Bible and God say.
  But, regardless, the Bible tells us many times of the importance of having someone to confide in, a friend to help you, when done in a healthy way. Sometimes friends can give you good advice. Sometimes friends can just be the shoulder you cry on. God gives us people in our life who can help us. And talking out loud can help us get a second opinion on things as well: sometimes, I, personally, can go around and around an issue in my head and work myself up into a tizzy, but hearing someone else say “it’s all going to be okay” offers me some comfort. As Anna sings: “I can’t find my direction/I’m all alone,” sometimes the enemy can use our loneliness to drag us down—or we can draw closer to God, to godly people, and build ourselves back up.
• Bible verses: Proverbs 27:17—“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” (This is a different translation than I usually use, but I love the word “friend” in this verse. Isn’t it beautiful to think about how true friendship should point us towards God and build us up towards Him?) 
• Galatians 6:2—“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” 
• Proverbs 13:20—“He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harms.”
• A quote, from C.S. Lewis: “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art...It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”
• Lastly...live in the moment. One of the lines that resonates with me the most in this song is when Anna sings: “I won’t look too far ahead/It’s too much for me to take/But break it down to this next breath/This next step/This next choice/Is one that I can make.” I know that when I feel the most anxiety, the most panic, is when I look to the future, too far ahead of me, to things that might not happen. When I think “what if I don’t do this within 5 years...what if I don’t have this within 10 years...what then...what happens...what will I do…” But then I remind myself that I can’t do that. I have no control of the future. But, like the hymn says: “But I know who holds tomorrow/And I know who holds my hand” (I Know Who Holds Tomorrow). It doesn’t matter what may or may not happen in the future. Jesus has promised that He will never leave. All He asks of me is to focus on Him and do the next right thing, in this moment. 
• Bible verse: Matthew 6:34—“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
• Psalm 94:19—“When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.”
• Jeremiah 17:7-8—“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

     I think the last thing I want to close with is that we will never know the next right thing until we put God first. Until we start seeking Him wholeheartedly. As Anna sings: “So I’ll walk through this night/Stumbling blindly towards the light/And do the next right thing,” so must we. So we must always take one step closer to the Light, on the straight and narrow path that leads us to Him. God is our guide and our end goal. It doesn’t matter how dark our circumstances, the world, or our lives may seem. We must stumble towards God. Sometimes we’ll fall. Sometimes we won’t. But we must always, always, keep on pushing towards the Light.

     Bible verse: Matthew 6:33—“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”

Song links: The Next Right Thing from Frozen 2

And thanks to Montana Kennedy for suggesting this song with a similar message: The Very Next Thing by Casting Crowns