When You Don’t Know the Way Forward
Most of us are searching for direction. We want to know that the decisions we’re making with our careers, our families, our time, and our money are actually leading somewhere good. Is what we are doing really going to lead us toward true life?
That desire only intensifies when life feels unstable. When a relationship strains. When work gets uncertain. When our faith enters a rocky season.
That’s the moment Jesus speaks into in John 14. He’s in a room with close friends who are anxious and confused. Everything they thought following Him would lead to seems to be falling apart. He’s talking about leaving, betrayal, and death. And they are searching for direction.
And Thomas finally voices what they’re all thinking: How can we know the way?
This isn’t just a question about direction, it’s about survival. They desperately want to know where life can be found.
And Jesus answers in a way that still surprises us: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
He doesn’t hand them a plan, rather He gives them Himself.
The reality is, it’s possible to orbit around faith without entrusting our lives to Jesus. To attend church occasionally and even practices parts of our faith, but still function as if we are the ones ultimately responsible for charting our path and securing our future.
I’ve seen that tendency in my own life. There have been seasons when I’ve wanted clarity more than I’ve wanted closeness. I’ve prayed for answers, timelines, guarantees. I’ve wanted God to show me how everything will unfold before I take the next step. But what I often get instead is something far more personal: Stay near Me. Trust Me with what you can’t see. Let Me lead this part of your life too.
When Jesus says He is the way, He is telling His friends that access to the Father does not depend on their ability to hold everything together. It depends on Him. When He says He is the truth, He is reminding them that in a world of competing voices and expectations, they can anchor their lives in His character and His words. And when He says He is the life, He is gently exposing the reality that the fullness they are longing for will not be found in success, control, or comfort, but in union with Him.
All three statements move in the same direction. They point to one reality: life is not ultimately found in having a clear path. It is found in walking with Jesus.
This may mean acknowledging that we have kept certain areas at a safe distance from God. Our finances. Our ambition. Our calendar. Our habits. It may mean recognizing that we’ve treated faith as something that supports our life rather than something that leads it.
But here is the good news: Jesus speaks these words to anxious, imperfect disciples who are about to fail Him in very public ways. He knows their weakness. He knows they will scatter. And still, He offers Himself to them.
You don’t have to have everything figured out to move closer to Him. You don’t need a perfect spiritual track record. You don’t need to resolve every doubt before you take a step.
The invitation is not to master the path. It is to trust the Person.
And as you begin to entrust more of your life to Him, something shifts. The pressure to control the future loosens. The fear of missing out softens. The need to squeeze meaning out of work, money, or achievement starts to lose its grip. Not because those things disappear, but because they are no longer carrying the weight of your identity.
Jesus doesn’t promise a simple life. He promises His presence.
If you find yourself somewhere on the edges of faith, unsure how deeply you want to lean in, hear this clearly: He is not waiting for you to impress Him. He is inviting you to walk with Him. In your uncertainty. In your questions. In your busyness.
The way forward is not a formula, it’s a person. It is a relationship with a Savior who is steady when you are not, faithful when you waver, and present even when your faith feels thin.
And that is a far more secure foundation than any plan we could build on our own.
If this encouraged you, check out more articles from our Flatirons Spiritual Formation Team for practical tools, encouragement, and ways to grow in your faith and leadership. Click here.