I ride a bicycle back-n-forth to work... have done it daily since 2001... missing some days, but typically covering some 4,500 miles a year. As I ride that bike lane each day, each way, I encounter many obstacles. No... nothing large at all... nothing all that 'lane blocking'... just... tire-flattening obstacles! As I snap along at a pretty brisk speed, it is tough to keep an eye on all the things in the roadway. Over the years, I have noticed that the more I concentrate on NOT running over an object (rocks, glass fragments, brush/leaves) I just seem to actually be aiming at it, instead! Not sure why... except the Lord has been showing me that many times the more I concentrate on NOT running over things... I usually end up hitting it dead on!! Then... a couple years ago, He quickened my heart that that is almost exactly how our spiritual lives are. The more we concentrate on NOT doing something, focus or obsess on avoiding something (debt, sin, bitterness), even just subconsciously fear something... we seem to actually end up doing or becoming that very thing!
In the Old Testament, Job even commented about how his own calamity was actually his fault, in Job 3:25, which reads; "For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." Sure, it is tough to not be afraid, tough to not be leery, tough to not fret over life. But, as we discussed in the 'Our Future Holds...' devotional, our future holds nothing we need to worry over right now! Now, for my cycling, I have learned to 'see' the calamity in my path with my peripheral vision... see it... don't STARE at it. When I stare at it, I hit it almost every time!
Spiritually, not as easy, huh. Actually, we do well to see anything spiritually, I know. But, that's actually core to the point... you can't see very well, don't imagine the worst! Isaiah 26:7 reminds us; "The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.", which is to say His path for you is straight, it is true, it is well guarded by Him for you. Makes me wonder why we 'do' experience suffering, pain, anguish... even getting off His path... but, as we discussed in the 'Unexceptional Presence' devotional, He is right there within you always. We just need to learn to trust His leading, look 'beyond' what we see as calamity, fear, danger... and follow His path. Remember... please remember... it is a straight and 'narrow' path, so you are not sharing it with anyone else, but Him! Never forget what John stated in John 10:14-15, which is; "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep."
It is in no way easy; it is in no way a second-nature process; it is in no way 'everyone' is doing, but if you just look to Him, you can Forge Ahead Blindly Seeing!