Stepping Out in Faith

This past week I was having a conversation with a friend and he made a good observation.  When comfort and familiarity guide our decisions in our spiritual lives it says a lot about our theology.   If the greatest good in our church experience is familiarity and feelings we end up missing out on the place where Jesus wants to lead us.

The book of Exodus tells the story of the journey of God’s children as they left slavery in Egypt and headed into the wilderness in pursuit of something better that God has promised them.  The children of Israel had cried out to God in their desperate situation in Egypt.  Exodus 3:24 says that “God heard their groaning.”  God’s response was to send Moses as a leader to deliver them from their captivity.

The children of Israel watched God do amazing things as he sent them into the wilderness.  Yet, while they were in the wilderness they continually longed to return to the comfort of their slavery in Egypt.  The wilderness was different, difficult, and scary.  The wilderness required them to depend on God alone.  The wilderness was preparation for what was to come. 

In our minds, we think about how crazy it was for the Israelites to desire the slavery of Egypt over the Promised Land where God desired to lead them.  Then in our own lives we seek out the comfort of what we have known in the past.  We stick to the familiar as the greatest good in our lives.  When God asks us to step forward in faith and it starts to get uncomfortable we start to look for our own way “back to Egypt.”  Jesus has not called us to pursue the way things used to be for our comfort and a sense of peace and contentment.  Scripture is clear that as we follow in faith we will face adversity but we are to cast our anxiety upon Jesus allowing him to guard our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:4-7).  May God bless you as you follow him by stepping forward in faith.