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The Journey of Faith Is God writing a faith story through your life? I once heard a story about a famous 19th-Century trapeze artist who walked a tightrope hundreds of feet over the Niagra River, near the rushing waters of the Falls. After accomplishing the feat several times, he began to show off a bit. “How many of you believe I can roll a wheelbarrow clear across this tightrope?” he asked the on-looking crowd of spectators and reporters that had assembled to watch him. “Yes, I believe you can!” shouted one man, anxious to see him try. “Good,” the trapeze artist replied as he rolled the wheelbarrow up to the tightrope. “Then get in!” Getting in the wheelbarrow So, what’s your wheelbarrow? Perhaps God has asked you to trust Him with your finances by giving an amount of money that’s beyond your means. Perhaps He’s asked you to step out in faith to start a Bible study or get involved in some form of ministry. Maybe He wants you to change careers or change the direction of a relationship you’re in. Each wheelbarrow looks different. But most include a requirement that we leave something comfortable behind and take a step toward something uncertain in the future. It will likely require us to go somewhere, do something or give something that seems illogical or impractical from a purely human standpoint. That’s the nature of faith. A journey to the unknown “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you,” God said to Abram (Genesis 12:1). And he went! He left his people, his place and many of his things to go to a completely unknown destination! I’ve often wondered what it must have been like for Abram—and others who followed God’s call in similar ways—to answer the questions of their friends and family. “Hey Abram, I see you’re preparing your family for a BIG move. Where are you moving?” How do you suppose Abram answered a question like that? How do you suppose people responded when he told them he wasn’t really sure where he was taking his family and his caravan? I’m sure it involved some awkward stuttering and stammering. The hard thing about faith "The world says, 'Show me, and I’ll believe.' God says, 'Believe me, and I’ll show you'." What’s more, this kind of faith goes against much of the calculative thinking we’ve been taught throughout our lives. It started in grade school, where we quickly learned that you don’t raise your hand unless you know the answer to the question. When faith-walking, on the other hand, we don’t have all the answers about the outcomes and destinations of our faith journey. To many, we look foolish. Later in life, we learned that knowing where you’re going—and having a plan to get there—gets us praised and rewarded. Likewise, in business we’ve learned that all risks must be analyzed and weighed according to how much control we have over the variables and what the possible outcomes might be. In faith-walking, however, we don’t always have those answers. Instead, we believe there is One who does and we believe He’ll show us in His timing. That must also look pretty foolish to those who don’t know and trust Him the way we do. Remember, the world almost always says, “Show me, and I’ll believe.” God almost always says, “Believe me, and I’ll show you.”
If you really want to know the fullness of God’s presence in your life, and if you want to live life in a way that really matters for eternity, then you must climb into the wheelbarrow. It’s not good enough to sit safely and comfortably (on the banks of the Niagra) and marvel at the faith-walkers of the Old and New Testaments. It’s not enough to watch your friends get in the wheelbarrow for the ride of their lives. It’s time for you to write your own faith stories. After all, faith is not simply a lecture course (that we get from reading about others), it’s a laboratory experience (that must be real in our own lives). If you haven’t already, it’s time to get in the wheelbarrow. Walking the faith journey—one step at a time Step One: The call to faith It’s critical for you to be sure it’s God’s voice you’re hearing. It’s all too easy to leap ahead based on personal feelings, self-seeking desires or man-made schemes. Author Fred Buchman states it this way: “Faith is not simply a lecture course. It’s a laboratory experience.” Step Two: The affirmation of the call Step Three: The internal battle with fear Once you’ve taken the first step, he’ll hit you again with questions and thoughts that are meant to bring fear—even more intense fear than before. “What have I done?” you may ask yourself when you look at the uncertainty around you. You may feel like Peter after he stepped out of the boat and began to walk on water. After the initial victory of a few successful steps, he began to look around and saw the fierce winds and high waves, and he began to doubt. This uncertainty will tempt you to shift your gaze away from God and back to yourself—or to the difficult circumstances around you. And you’ll easily conclude that you’re not up to the challenge. It will tempt you to re-calculate the risks of your faith venture. You’ll want to look at the law of averages that clearly shows how dim the chances are for your faith to be rewarded. And you’ll be tempted to go back to playing it safe, because you’ll realize you haven’t been a very good risk manager. If you’re not careful, you’ll start to rehearse all the scary things that will happen if God doesn’t show up, and you’ll become paralyzed. You’ll refuse to take any more steps. Before you know it, Satan will be pointing the way to the exit ramp of your faith journey, and you’ll be all too willing to go there. It’s time to stop thinking logically (as the world defines logic) and start thinking theologically. (I’m not saying that faith is illogical or unreasonable. But it is based on conclusions about God that don’t always fit human reasoning. It’s a logic that’s based on theology. It’s based on our trust in a supernatural God whose power, character, wisdom and love have been proven over and over.) It’s okay that you have questions. Faith doesn’t eliminate all of your questions, it just leads them to different answers—because it’s theological. And it’s perfectly normal to have some fear, but don’t let fear become your leader. Theological thinking will feed your faith and starve your fear because it gets your focus back on God. This is the time where you must live by Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” Theological thinking compels you to trust in the Lord with all your heart and not on your own understanding. This reminds me of a story told by Loren Cunningham in his book, Daring to Live on the Edge. “Cleveland Center, this is 346 Alpha Charley. I’m at 10,500 feet. I’m in the clouds…not instrument rated. Would like radar vectors. Out.” —“Six Alpha Charley, Cleveland. Roger. Understand you are not instrument rated. Set transponder code 4582 for radar identification. What is your heading now, sir?” “Six Alpha Charley is heading 250 degrees. Say again code. It’s rough. I’m getting disoriented….I can’t see the ground!” —“Six Alpha Charley, Cleveland, Set code 4582. Concentrate on you attitude indicator, sir. Keep you wings level and reduce power to start a slow descent. We have you on radar contact.” “I’m losing control…losing it…turning…I’m going to spin! I’m spinning! Which way! Help! Help!” —“Six Alpha Charley, release your controls, Sir! Look at your attitude indicator. Opposite rudder, opposite rudder…” “Help! Help! I can’t stop.…” —“Six Alpha Charley, Six Alpha Charley, do you read?” The above was based on a recorded conversation between a control tower and a small plane which crashed, killing the pilot. The investigation of this crash revealed that nothing was wrong with the flight instruments in N346 Alpha Charley. The pilot, untrained to fly without outside visual references, became disoriented and lost control of his aircraft. His instrument Panel contained all the information he needed to complete his flight safely. What was lacking? The training and discipline to ignore what his instincts were telling him and to fly only by reference to an outside source of information: his instruments. Which way was up? The reality he perceived as true was false. His senses had betrayed him, and it cost him his life. “It’s time to stop simply thinking logically and start thinking theologically.” When you’re walking by faith, you can’t afford to trust in your sight. It’s not spiritual reality. You must keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith (Hebrews 12:2). Like this pilot’s instrumentation, Jesus is your outside reference. To ignore Him can be deadly. If God rescues you too early, your faith muscles will not get any stronger. But if they’re allowed to grow, they’ll be able to lift an even greater load in the future. Even Jesus had to endure in His painful journey: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy sat before him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2-3). Step Five: The reward of our faith Grellet was a Frenchman who moved to America in the late 18th Century. He became a Christian through the teachings of William Penn and John Fox and began to preach throughout the U.S. and Canada. At one point, Grellet believed God was calling him to go preach to a group of loggers who worked in a large lumber camp in a heavily forested area of the Northwestern United States. But when Grellet arrived at the camp, he found it completely deserted. Apparently the loggers had finished their work there and had moved on to another location. Grellet was confused. Why would God specifically call him to preach at this camp? Sensing God’s affirmation, he went ahead and preached in the vacant dining hall. He felt foolish preaching to the empty walls of an empty building, but at least he would be God’s fool. Grellet preached the sermon as if a thousand loggers were present and then he packed up and left. “If God rescues you too early, your faith muscles will not get any stronger. But if they’re allowed to grow, they’ll be able to lift an even greater load in the future.” Many years later, Grellet was traveling in England. As he walked across London Bridge one day, a man approached him. “There you are!” the man exclaimed as he studied Grellet’s face. “I’ve been praying for years that God would help me find you.” “I don’t understand,” Grellet replied. “Who are you?” “Do you remember when you came to a logging camp years ago and preached in an empty dining hall?” “Yes, but how did you know about that?” “Because I was there,” the man replied. “I was a cook at the camp and was the only one left there when you came. I heard you preaching in the dining hall and I listened to what you were saying through the open window. “God convicted my heart through your sermon,” he continued, “and later, I bought a Bible and began reading it. I committed my life to Christ and began sharing my new faith with others. “I’ve wanted you to know that, because of your sermon, more than a thousand people have come to Christ, including three who are serving overseas as missionaries.” Our reward may be immediate or delayed. But it will be worth it! A faith story of your own Have you taken the first steps—but things have gotten difficult and you’re headed for the exit ramp? Let me encourage you to stay the course! Have you come to the end of a faith journey—you’ve completed your work—but you don’t yet see the promised reward? Let me encourage you to keep your hope and faith alive! Your faith is not based on what you can see, but on what you know to be true. God is faithful.
© 2004 Kingdom Building Ministries. |
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