Devotionals
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1
There are no preconditions to obeying God. Much of the time, we want such and such to happen before we do what God wants us to do. Essentially, we want God to provide a way for us to do His will before we do it. Take for example the case of a woman who lives with a man outside marriage. She knows it's wrong and wants to have him move out, but she's afraid he won't be able to survive on his own and afraid of the consequences for their relationship. Before she acts on God's will, she wants some assurance that he'll be protected and that their relationship will remain intact. But, God sets no preconditions on obedience nor will he necessarily provide a way to do His will. Rather, He often provides the way after you do His will.
Now, take the example of my family. I am certain God wants us to move out of New York to Colorado. Before moving, I would like to land a job in Colorado, preferably one with good benefits. I haven't done so yet. Will that hold up our proposed move? Ultimately, no. It would make me feel better to have a job before moving out there, but that's my own security I seek. In essence, before taking this leap of faith, I'd like to see a safety net stretched out beneath us. The type of safety net I desire takes the form of a stable job with good benefits, plus perhaps some other things.
Faith, though, comes in when we don't see a safety net before we leap, or at least when we have absolutely no trust in the net that might stretch beneath us. Instead of placing our trust in what we can see, we place our trust in what we cannot see, the hand of God waiting to catch us and raise us up. When God leads us to a cliff and we fail to leap because we cannot see a net stretched below us, we show our lack of trust in God. This applies not only to large geographic relocations, but to making the decision not to live with a boyfriend or girlfriend, telling the truth to our boss when it might get us fired, speaking to a friend about Jesus when it might cost our friendship, or anything that God requires us. Where is our faith if we do not leap when we cannot see? As the passage above states, faith is being certain of what we do not see, so if we cannot obey when we do not see, our faith is proved to be lacking.
Let us, therefore, not be afraid, but act boldly on God's will, in full assurance of faith.
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