Sunday, September 23, 2012

What Are You Waiting For?

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

-- Exodus 3:11-12

God is not predictable. Just when we think we’ve got it all figured out, He asks us to do something we hadn’t planned to do. And it’s usually something that is terribly frightening and more than a little out of our comfort zone.

Of course, that’s the point. We need God. But sometimes we get so caught up in ourselves, in our own abilities, that we forget the power behind us. We fail to remember that God would never call us to do something without planning to be right there beside us, guiding us, and making sure that we accomplish His will.

But first we’ve got to step out in faith. Yeah. That’s the hard part. We want some kind of guarantee that we won’t meet up with failure. We want it in writing, if possible. We can’t see that it already is.

God’s promises are throughout the Bible. We know that He will never leave us or forsake us. We know that He loves us and plans good things for us. We know that we can do anything through Him who strengthens us.

So why do we doubt? Why do we hold back? Why can’t we seem to jump out in faith? We’re like a small child whose father is trying to coax him into jumping off the side of the pool and into his daddy’s waiting arms. He wants to. He knows it’ll be okay. He knows his daddy will catch him. But it’s just so scary to take that first leap. The side of the pool just seems so much safer.

And, in a way, it is. For a while anyway. Then it gets old, the sitting on the sidelines like that, never really taking part in the life God planned for us. Never enjoying the fun and the blessings we might have if we would just step out in faith.

But there’s that fear of failure, public failure especially, that weighs on our minds. It would be bad enough to fail in secret or even before just a few friends and family members. It’s just that when God is calling us to do something it’s usually pretty public and we’re really not wanting to get into a line that might lead to embarrassment and ridicule.

So there we sit on the sidelines. Undecided. Trust God and head toward the possibility of blessings beyond measure? Or stay safe and never really live the life we were created to live?

God is with us, whether we hang back or go forward. He’ll catch us either way. How much better, how much more fulfilling, to step out in faith knowing our Father will always be right there to catch us.