Lately I have been thinking about how details come in handy when traveling and making decisions big or small. For example I remember traveling with family for vacations and scheduled family fun. At some point during the trips there was always a short time when we might have gotten lost a time or two and of course my dad would be driving and we would eventually have to ask for directions to get where we were going.
Yet, this was not always possible because there was times when there was no place to get directions so some details were left unknown. Thus, we had to walk by faith, or literally drive by faith. However, as a family we always did find our way to where we were headed. For the record if each of us was completely honest we have all gotten lost at one point or another driving a car in an unknown place. But isn’t it funny in the same way with our relationships with God we do not always get the details and we do not always get the what if’s answered before we obey the commands God gives us. And then we are constantly asking God for more confirmations over and over again. Yet I have been challenged this past couple of months with the command is the confirmation, and that we need endurance in this walk of faith for when God is refining us into more of his image. It is just like when God invites us into this covenant relationship with Him to pick up our cross and follow Him we have to be willing to humble ourselves, let our guard down and be open to receive his steadfast love.
Moreover, I have been challenged with the question, how or what does it look like to paint my faith on a daily basis? The reason this is a challenging question is because for a long time I let false labels get in the way of believing the truth of how God sees me and I let what people thought or their labels misguide me which was the wrong thing to do. I should have not let the chatterbox of my mind grab hold of the lies of the enemy. I should have let go a lot sooner than I did. But God’s steadfast love is still there with new mercies and unfailing grace to hide me in his shelter.
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. The LORD is my portion,”says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him, it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD it is good for a man that he bear the role in his youth.”(Lamentations 3:22-27ESV).
Thus, for me painting my faith these days is setting my mind on the things of Christ and not of the flesh. It looks like getting rid of distractions that lead me to unhealthy thoughts. Also it means I have to choose to believe right not just about God, but how I view myself and how loved an made whole I am in Christ. This means I have to focus on how God’s love never fails nor does his timing fail. For instance we cannot rush ahead of God, because he orders our steps by lighting the way. Also we cannot hide from God nor can we hide our sin.
But still God chooses us over and over again. There is no stain, or label, no shame, no condemnation, no sin, that is greater than Him. It still baffles me so much how God chooses us and would have his son die for us our sins again just to be in right relationship with us. This is so astounding his love cannot be measured or limited on a timetable. Yet in return loving God is a risk worth taking we have to be willing to take that is why it’s a leap of faith because we have to be willing to risk it. We have to be willing to go on this journey of faith with the right person. Otherwise it is going to be a bumpy ride with the wrong one.
Walking by faith and not by sight is taking directions without all the details. It is going with the command of confirmation we have from God and having peace without all the details. This is hard to do at times because we will look stupid and people will not understand all the choices we are making when submitting to the authority of God. Especially, when it comes to big decisions people will not understand why we might say no or pass on a huge opportunity. But that can be times when God is refining our faith to mold us into what he wants us to be and where he is going to take us. Furthermore, those things are not determined by who we’ve been in the past or the labels that have been glued to our backs whether from our own thought lives or from others. I love this quote from Steven Furtick, “See, God’s assessment of you isn’t limited by where you’ve been before or even where you are now. His words reflect the places He plans to take you and the purposes He intends to fulfill through you.”(Furtick, 2014, Pg.135).
It all goes back to setting our minds on Christ and not this world. For example in going back to the directions scenario and being refined by God. We have to be willing to admit when we are weak, and that we need help. For record we can be all about positivity but it comes down to a heart check are we willing to pick up that cross submit to God’s steadfast love and be okay with not knowing all the details even if we are constantly stopping for directions-details. Basically it comes down to trusting the one who is leading us. There is something profound in what Rebekah Lyons says, “In the same way we can know the call of God on our lives and feel anxious to get to it, but God sometimes calls us to wait as he refines us, as he shows himself to be our redeemer, rescuer, and healer. We must confess that his timing is best, and trust and declare that the waiting will bring us into a place of readiness.”(Lyons,2017 Pg.127).
Those words can be hard to digest sometimes because being refined by God is a process and waiting with little details can just be plain painful at times, but let me tell you it is far more rewarding then rushing ahead of God for a cheap version of it. So when those times get hard and you want to run for the hills or your at the bottom of your wits. I ask you to lean in and seek God’s face he will not let you down because he does not fail nor does he loses a battle. And when you want to constantly stop and ask for directions-details lean in and find rest in God’s peace. He doesn’t disappoint but satisfies instead.
We can’t out run the love of God. So we might as well run to him.
References:
English Standard Version Study Bible (2008) Crossway Publishing, Wheaton ILL,
Furtick, Steven,(2014) Crash The Chatterbox, Hearing God’s Voice Above All Others, Multnnomah Books Publishing, Colorado Springs, Colorado,
Rebekah Lyons,(2017) You Are Free, Be Who You Already Are, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI,
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