When Life Seems Aimless, Part 1

Have you ever felt like your life seems aimless, like you're wandering around directionless in an unending wilderness? Most of us have or will, at some point, feel this effect of sin’s curse. It is part of what Solomon describes as the "vanity" of life and describes with the illustration of "chasing the wind" (cf. 3:1-15).

I remember a conversation I had a few weeks after graduation from high school with my former school administrator and mentor, Pastor Bob Brenneman. He confided to me that he felt the Lord had him in a “holding pattern", and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, how he was supposed to think, or where he was supposed to land. Perhaps you've felt that way, too. Recently on a podcast I listen to regularly, two separate questions were asked dealing with this very issue (here and here).

I think this is a common struggle. Not only have I dealt with this issue myself, but I've had recent conversations with several friends in which they expressed feelings of aimlessness, unsettledness, discouragement, disappointment, tiredness, unfulfilled dreams, hopelessness, etc.

I think that particularly in today's culture, young adult singles uniquely struggle with feelings of aimlessness and wandering. Many social factors have changed that directly impact singles in this way. First, careers are harder to start. College education continues to be increasingly expensive and decreasingly sufficient—graduates find themselves no closer to landing a job, as they are expected to have experience and graduate degrees, and instead find themselves saddled by a huge debt. Second, marriage has been delayed and undermined. Social norms continue to transform rapidly and, along with other factors, continue to delay the average age of marriage. Third, life has become hedonistic. Our secular, self-centered, and materialistic society has fed the widening life-stage of adolescence. Few expectations are placed upon young people, other than selfishness, rebellion, disrespect, and immorality. The work ethic and drive of previous generations have been replaced with increasingly juvenile and shameful levels of immaturity among increasingly older young adults. These three factors (and probably others) result in dreams being delayed or denied. Many young adults find themselves included in statistics that they never imagined being in, burdened with multiplied thousands of dollars of debt, still living at home or just scraping by on their own, in and out of jobs, unmarried, and feeling disrespected, undervalued, and purposeless.

Many, it seems, are the wilderness wanderings of life, and we may find ourselves frequently wondering, “Has God forgotten us?" Many Christians fall by the wayside during their wilderness wandering. Aimlessness, shattered dreams, unforeseen challenges, lost opportunities, and growing burdens sap them of their youthful exuberance and adventurous vision and bring instead a dull weariness and despondent malaise.

God’s Word actually introduces us to many characters that we can, with very little imagination needed, expect to have struggled with these same feelings. Adam, Joseph, Elijah, David, and Isaiah are just a sampling of those whose stories most certainly include their share of wilderness wanderings and holding patterns.

Caleb and Joshua are two other clear examples of this struggle. Standing as a minority against the cowardly counsel of the other spies and the antagonistic anger of the multitude (Numbers 13:25-14:10), they alone were given grace by God to withstand His judgment upon the rest of the nation. While the rest of the nation would wander and die in the wilderness for the next 40 years, only Caleb and Joshua would survive and see the fulfillment of God’s promise to bring Israel into the promised land (Numbers 14:20-38).

Can you imagine what those 40 years must have been like for Caleb and Joshua?! For them “hope deferred” didn’t turn into joy in the morning. Instead, day after day they wandered in circles in the barren wilderness, paying the consequences for others’ rebellion. Day after day they buried friends and family members, and with each funeral, they mourned the death of another dream. Month after month, and year after year, they undoubtedly struggled with feelings of aimlessness, discouragement, weariness, confusion, and disappointment. Perhaps they began to question God’s promise and doubt His goodness—I think I would have. Theirs was the original wilderness wandering—40 years of closed doors, disheartened emotions, unfulfilled dreams, and quiet questions!

And yet, at the outset of Israel’s 40-year punishment, a divine description of Caleb is provided that indicates why he received God’s favor, survived the wilderness wandering, and experienced God’s prosperity afterwards. Indeed, this characteristic is what sustained him through the aimlessness of 40 years. Numbers 14:24 describes Caleb (and, we assume, Joshua) as having “a different spirit” in “follow[ing] [God] fully.”

Over the next several posts, I want to challenge you to have a different spirit in following your God fully even through times of seemingly aimless wandering through life’s wilderness. In fact, I want to suggest to you four strategies for cultivating a different spirit that fully follows God even when the path seems to go in circles. Check back in tomorrow for the first strategy.