Step By Step

(This blog evolved as my very long comment in response to a comment left on yesterday's blog)

There have been several people (myself included) who have written about waiting on God. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. In fact, it is a very good thing to wait on God and seek His way.

Psalm 38:15
Lord, I wait for You; You will answer, Lord my God.

Isaiah 30:18
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him!

Micah 7:7
But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.

God's answers are not always just a quick "yes" or "no" - there's also "later". That's the hardest one to hear, I think.

What we really need to remember is to not just sit around waiting. If you read through different character stories in the Bible, you will notice that God's specific leadings and His blessings often came AFTER people had taken their 1st steps of obedience. Maybe that's what is meant by blind faith?

Imagine you're outside on a pitch-black night (not an easy scenario in NJ, but an everyday one here). You need to walk a mile in the darkness. You do have a flashlight. How much of the path will the flashlight illuminate? Maybe 5 feet? Not enough for you to see your whole journey from the starting point. Now take a few steps. You still can't see all that lies ahead, but you can see further along than when you started. The light cannot move unless you do!

Taking those first timid steps can be the hardest - and I am speaking from experience here - but God gives you just enough guidance for the immediate steps. I think it's a blessing of sorts that He does not usually reveal His whole plans at once. That would be too overwhelming and keep us from trusting all along the way. It might even scare us away from the journey all together!

Sometimes By Step (Rich Mullins)
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days