I wanted to share something from Streams In The Desert that really challenged & encouraged my heart yesterday. Especially on my particular journey, with particular struggles of walking by faith (which I know we each struggle with in our own ways on our own paths, ordained by God). When so many people try to give us advice on what to do or what not to do; where to walk, when to walk, how to walk… but it is only us that know what God is telling us to do as we seek His face and ask for His wisdom, surrounded by wise counselors of His who are faithful in Him.
It can be so scary to walk by faith ~ wanting to wait to move forward to see what the end result might be. But that isn’t always how He designed things to work. Most often, God asks us to do something when we simply can’t see ahead at all. Frequently, He asks us to do something when we don’t even know what will happen or how it will work out. It’s pretty scary, actually, this whole business of walking by faith and not by sight.
Well, anyway, I hope this encourages you all, as it did me.
Go Forward
“As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests…shall rest in the waters…the waters shall be cut off” (Joshua 3:13).
The people were not to wait in their camps until the way was opened, they were to walk by faith. They were to break camp, pack up their goods, form in line to march, and move down to the very banks before the river would be opened. If they had come down to the edge of the river and then had stopped for the stream to divide before they stepped into it, they would have waited in vain. They must take one step into the water before the river would be cut off. We must learn to take God at His Word, and go straight on in duty, although we see no way in which we can go forward. The reason we are so often balked by difficulties is that we expect to see them removed before we try to pass through them.
If we would move straight on in faith, the path would be opened for us. We stand still, waiting for the obstacle to be removed, when we ought to go forward as if there were no obstacles.
~Evening Thoughts~
I remember reading this last year and I remember thinking how scared I would be to be in their shoes. And yet, God showed me areas in my life where I’ve had to do just that! He brought me through those times and I’d forgotten how dark it was at the time.
I think that’s one reason why it’s so good to write down God’s faithfulness!