You have heard it a million times before, right? Maybe from your grandmother who was sitting in her favorite rocking chair knitting a new scarf, or you saw it on a billboard as you traveled for work or a school field trip. Maybe you have only heard it occasionally during the Sunday morning sermon of a church you barely go to. No matter where you heard the phrase “walk by faith”, do you know what it means? Not the overly used meaning, but the actual biblical meaning? If you don’t I’m praying that you do by the time you have read this blog entry. That’s what we do here at Bible Breadcrumbs. We prayerfully ask God to help us help others. And that is the heart of everything we do.
So, have you ever been in prayer asking God to show you what to do next? To give you knowledge about what your next step needs to be in order to continue doing His will? I know I have before. Actually, it wasn’t that long ago that those very same words came from my mouth during a very personal moment with God. But what would you say if I told you that praying for God to show you the next step isn’t God’s will? Okay, okay, wait. Before you close the browser, listen to me. God’s will isn’t to give you all the steps. It’s for you to have faith in Him. I know what you are thinking, “if God doesn’t want us knowing all the steps then why did He make us this way?” Actually, He didn’t.
The reason why we want all the answers right when we want them is part of the Fall. Let’s go back to a very familiar portion of scripture where the serpent is in the middle of tempting Eve. You may even have it memorized. His words to Eve were, “For God knows that in the day that you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God…” (Genesis 3:4). It’s strange because earlier in Genesis we are informed that Eve is already like God, created in His image. Eating the fruit caused man to become like God, or have the desire to be like God. One of the ways we do this is by trying to know the future. We think that if we have more information, privileged only to God, then we would make better decisions. We are not built to be omniscient, only He is. When we strive to be like God in a way that was never meant for us we start doing things and moving pieces of the puzzle that were meant, by God’s design, to stay in place or connect in a different way. We start to think that we are the lord of our lives. That is the complete opposite off walking by faith. That’s actually walking by sight instead. (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Think of a time in the Bible where someone walked by sight. King David comes to mind almost instantly. Upon seeing Bathsheba, he took his eyes off trusting in God, and chose to create his own path. We do that too, every day. Our prayers reflect this by way of asking God to show us what career path to take, or what house to buy, or who we should marry, etc. Of course we are to seek wisdom from God, and there is a lot to be said about praying for God’s direction in our lives, but when stay stuck in one place waiting on His specific instruction, we miss the enormous blessings that come from trusting Him and putting our faith in His plans. I’m not telling you to dive right into something without seeking God. I’m encouraging you to trust the process. Though God does speak to people and gives specific instructions, those moments are not as often as people say they are. God gave Noah specific dimensions for the ark, but that was for a specific purpose. Keep in mind, Noah didn’t have a Bible to read and Christ hadn’t died for the sins of the world yet, so God used Noah in the redemptive process. Since we do have the written word of God to guide us, in seasons of waiting we need to remember who God is and trust in Him being faithful to keep His promises. Instead of doing things how we want to do them, we need to allow God’s word to guide us. Everything we need to know about God has already been written and preserved by God since the time of its creation. The Bible, as per the great Faith Womack of the ‘How To Faith A Life’ YouTube channel, “is a story about God redeeming His people for His glory.” God knows a thing or two about a thing or two and we should put our faith in Him, way above confidence in ourselves.
Let’s look back at another well-known person of the Bible, Abraham. In a season of waiting, he took matters into his own hands regarding having children, and there is conflict on earth even to this day because of it. Yet another example of mankind creating chaos trying to be little gods. My point is that we are not walking by faith when we ask God to give us all the steps to get where He wants us to go. Sometimes, He wants us to use discernment, wisdom, and faith to move forward. And, if we did that more often, I think we would see major impact in the world. But thankfully God’s grace isn’t based on our performance. Thankfully when we crash and burn, He is right there waiting for us to lift up our hands and surrender to His way. God still used Abraham and David to bring about His perfect Son, Jesus Christ. And despite your own disobedience, God can use you too.
Before you go any further, I encourage you to go read Hebrews 11 in its entirety. If you don’t have a Bible, here’s a link for you read it online (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews%2011&version=ESV). This entire chapter is about the faith of prominent people in the Bible. After you have read it, I also encourage you to seek God in prayer and ask Him to give you faith, faith in all things, faith to take the next step without needing to know all the details. He is faithful to give what we ask of Him. And remember also that Jesus was the perfect representation of trusting and having faith in God. As we keep our eyes on Him we can be confident in our faith because of Jesus Christ, “the author and the finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
You see, when you and I make statements like, “God just show me what you want me to do” or, “God tell me where you want me to go” we are essentially saying, “God, You told me to walk by faith, but I would rather walk by sight.” And when we do that we are attempting to be God. Many people claim God spoke to them or showed them exactly where they needed to go, but God doesn’t do this as often as people say He does. I know I have wondered if I was a bad Christian or doing something wrong because God wasn’t talking to me like He does with all these other people. I’m thankful to have, since then, been properly educated on how God speaks. We need to be careful with how we word these things because it can really hurt someone’s faith, especially since most of the time when someone claims God spoke to them, it wasn’t really God. If you are sitting there questioning how I know whether or not God spoke to someone, I’m here to tell you, I don’t know for certain, but I do know that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Yes, He speaks to people, but most of the time God speaks through His written word. And you’ll never hear anything from God that goes against scripture.
I was listening to a podcast and I heard Jen Wilkin, a published author, say “if you want prayers that God will answer 100% of the time, pray for Him to make you holy, to give you patience. Ask Him to make you kind…” and that really hit. I have prayed for those things, but not really giving it my all by way of trusting God to actually do them. Those are the prayers you pray when you are in a hurry and want to check daily prayer off your list of things to do, right? Wrong. Asking God to make you a better servant, or to have more patience, or to have the fruit of the Spirit is powerful and just like any prayer, God can make it happen! All you have to do is have faith in Him. God wants you to start and end every single day with having faith in Him. “How do I have faith in God”, you ask? By praying for it and obeying the word of God. Faith comes when we read our Bible, pray daily, fellowship with other believers, and exercise our faith by spreading the gospel. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” It really is that simple. People like to complicate things, myself included, but God really has laid everything out for us to easily understand as long as we have the Holy Spirit guiding us. If you are lacking in faith and need encouragement, please email me. I would love to hear from you and help you in any way that I can. Don’t think that your problems are too big for God, or that no one cares, because that’s a well-known lie from the enemy. God bless you and thank you for you continued support!
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