It is not possible to live the true Christian life successfully without total dependence on God. When one begins this journey it is worth noting what the writer to the Hebrews in 11:6 says:
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
The prophet Isaiah in Chapter 55:8-11 records God’s word which says:
“My thoughts,” says the LORD, “are not like yours, and my ways are different from yours. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways and thoughts above yours. “My word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth. They make the crops grow and provide seed for planting and food to eat. So also will be the word that I speak- it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do. (GNB)
This means that there are many things about God and how He does things that we will not understand and others that He may require us to do that will not make sense at all from our perspective!
Throughout the bible, both in the Old and New Testaments, we read of God’s people whose lives cannot be explained apart from their faith in His guidance and providence.
We read of Noah who took the risk of trusting God when instructed to build an ark because God was going to send a destructive flood on the earth. Throughout the building of the ark project, those around Noah must have thought that he was out of his mind! The text does not tell us explicitly how long he took to build, but it could have been anywhere between 40 to 100 years! The command from God may have sounded ridiculous from the human perspective, but nevertheless, Noah chose to trust God’s word and to obey. He built according to the specifications given and completed the task, after which the floodwaters came just as God had told him.
Abram took God at His word to go into the unknown in order for a new nation to be birthed through him. It took complete trust in and surrender to God for the fulfilment of the promised son whose birth came after 25 years of waiting!
God’s kingdom projects including our lives do not happen over night; one of the reasons being that He is interested in the character formation of those that He loves. One of the least pleasant things when we consider God’s workings is probably His sense of time! On this one, we don’t operate on the same plane at all – most times it appears to us that He’s always late, though from His perspective He’s always right on time! For example, the coming of the Saviour may have appeared to have delayed, but God’s word tells us in Galatians 4:4 that: ‘…but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman…’
In life, common sense tells us that we should never follow someone that we do not trust for obvious reasons. Making this same application spiritually, God’s children can confidently say that we follow Him because He is trustworthy and dependable. He always fulfils His promises even though at times there may be a ‘delay’ because His ‘fullness of time’ is remarkably different from ours!
When God’s children walk in obedience to Him, the way we live our lives to honour Him will often be difficult for onlookers to understand. The one following God’s leading though, lives by faith and enjoys a very blessed and fulfilled life that is out of reach of the ordinary person. This is the walk of faith we refer to, which pleases our Heavenly Father and is available for every child of God.
Prayer
Father, what a delightful fellowship we enjoy with You as we choose to walk by faith and in obedience to You in all things. Glory to Your matchless name for this great privilege.
