A Leap of Faith

January 16, 2008

A few years ago a young woman was taking care of several children while their mother and father were away. The family had a swimming pool in the back yard and it was a hot day, so all of them were in the pool and very much enjoying the water.

This was a Christian family in which the parents lovingly taught their children to obey them and the authorities in their lives. Had they not, this day would have brought horrendous disaster and sorrow.

As the children were swimming, the baby sitter noticed a small spark from a wire in an overhead power line. She called out to the children, “All of you! Out of the pool! At once!”

How many children would instantly stop their play, or if they did, at least protest that this was fun, so why must they get out? These children, without any hesitation, quickly jumped out of the pool. At the instant the last one was on deck, the power line snapped and fell into the water.

I think of this real-life story when I’m at a swimming pool, or watching children interact with their parents. Learning obedience is difficult—learning instant obedience without protest is even more challenging.

The Bible tells fathers to bring their children up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), because it first tells children to, “obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise: ‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’” How can a child obey God unless they learn obedience from godly parents who raise them under the instruction and authority that God gives? It is possible, but certainly a greater challenge for those whose parents didn’t take on this responsibility.

My parents were told by my doctors that I would not live past sixteen years. For that reason, they didn’t give me a lot of orders. I remember the household rules and things like “stay away from bad boys” but not a lot of other instruction. By the time I passed sixteen in good health, I wasn’t as teachable as I might have been ten years before that. I don’t think I was a brat, but taking instruction has been a challenge for me.

This year, as I work through my annual purpose and goals, God is asking that I take a leap of faith. In previous years, I listed the givens (personal spiritual life, relationships with family and friends, and household responsibilities) then added goals in four other areas. This year, the Lord is nudging me to include those four areas, but drop my goals and the resulting to-do lists. After I take care of the givens, will have some free time for those other things, but instead of making my own set of plans, He wants me to listen for His direction each day. He may tell me to complete a project half done (I am working on many PhDs!) or start something new, or take off in another direction. The point is, I’m to pay attention to His will and obey it.

I respond to this something like Moses did when God spoke to him at the burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt and lead His people to the promised land. Basically, Moses said, “Here I am, send Aaron.” He didn’t want to do it, made excuses, told God he was inadequate, said he was not a speaker, blah, blah, blah. God replied, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say” (Exodus 4).

In other words, God told him that He created him, poor of speech and inadequacies included, but this was not about Moses. It was about the sufficiency of God.

Moses didn’t get it. He said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

While I don’t outright say the same words, in my heart when I pray for others, I’m thinking that God is enough, He doesn’t need me, and because I’m not capable, I’m sure He will send someone else.

I sound like Moses.

The next verses say that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses” and He replied that Aaron, Moses’ brother, could speak well so He would use him as a spokesperson, but He would first tell Moses what He wanted said. Then Moses would tell Aaron and Aaron would do the talking.

The first thing that hits me is that God promised to give Moses everything he needed to say. This would be when he needed to say it, and would require moment-by-moment listening and obedience on the part of this reluctant man. I have wondered about this. If I drop my to-do list, will God speak to me and let me know what to do next? Or will silence drive me back to doing things the old way, my way?

The second thing that hits me is that at times I have ‘passed the buck’ on obedience with the excuse of inadequacy. I’ve said, “Here I am” and wanted to be used by God, but in my heart, I’ve not expected this to happen because I’m not good enough, and He has far more capable servants. Just like Moses, I’m now hearing Him say, “Who made you? Don’t I know all about you? If I wanted someone else, I’d ask someone else.”

Obedience isn’t about me, or what I think about me. It is about the sufficiency of God. Neither is having a to-do list about what I think needs to be done. It is about the plans and purposes of God, which can be easy to miss, ignore, or neglect because I am too involved in busy work to fill in the hours in my days.

We heard a sermon last Sunday at Friendship Community Church in which God challenged us in the importance of prayer empowered by the Holy Spirit that seeks God’s will in all matters. The pastor said that too many Christians settle for mere survival instead of living as the Christians of the New Testament. He also asked, “If the hope of the world rests on you, what would the world be like?”

That hope does not rest on me; it rests on Christ, thank God, yet He makes it clear that I have a part in it and that role can be known and lived out only if I place my own plans in His hands and wait each day for His direction.

This is scary. Will I hear it? Will God’s direction be enough? My heart says of course it will, but taking a leap of faith is somewhat terrifying—I don’t like jumping at His command without knowing what will happen, nor do I enjoy the interval between taking that leap and landing in obedience, but then this isn’t about me, is it!