Stepping Out in Faith

Psalms 25:4-5 Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

 A father asked his son to carry a letter from their camp to the village. He pointed out a trail over which the lad had never gone before. “All right Dad, but I don’t see how that path will ever reach the town,” said the boy.

“Well son, I’ll tell you how. Do you see that big tree down the path?” asked the father.

 “Oh, yes, I see that far.”

“Well, when you get there by the tree, you’ll see the trail a little farther ahead — and farther down you’ll see another big tree — and when you reach that one you’ll be closer and so on until you get within sight of the houses of the village.”

In the same way, I believe God wants to reveal the way for each one of us on our trails toward Him, one step, or, as with this story - one tree at a time. I learned a long time ago that God will not give me Step B, C, or D until my foot is in the air moving away from Step A. Makes it perfectly clear why it is called a Faith Walk. For this ‘planner’ personality, that was a hard learned lesson that only came after one struggle after another standing on one leg in hesitation about putting my other foot down. I used to pray to God to send me a postcard from heaven with detailed directions. Still waiting! Sometimes we’re convinced we need to see the end of our path, so that we can be reassured that there’s something good down there, or that we’re going in the right direction, or that we’ll be able to see when it gets dark.

We know firsthand how it feels to walk in the darkness here in the Land and not know where the end will be or how we’ll have the strength and sustenance to get there. It’s not always easy to move forward and trust that God will light the path ahead and point us in the way we should go. But the fact is that it is a crucial step toward our growth and maturity in the Lord and we all need it to get there. Let me say here, none of us ever get to the point we are ‘mature enough’ in the Lord – not this side of heaven anyway.

Let’s give our hesitation and fear to the Lord. He will not fail us. He will be faithful to light our path and lead us in the way everlasting — one step of faith at a time.