To Walk by Faith

Living in the digital age, I’ve become accustomed to receiving immediate confirmation for the decisions I make. When I go online and place an order for a new shirt, a new pair of running shoes, or a new book, an email message immediately pops up in my “inbox” confirming that my order has been received and that the right price has been billed to my credit card. Within a few days, I’ll also receive notice that the merchandise I ordered has been shipped and I can usually trace the progress of the parcel as it makes its way from the warehouse to my own front door.

If I order airline tickets online, I receive an e-ticket immediately confirming my flight number, seat assignment and itinerary. If any changes are made in the flight schedule between the times I booked my reservation and the day of departure, I receive immediate notification via email or voice message. All I have to do is show up an hour and a half ahead of time without holes in my socks to avoid any embarrassing moments at the security screening.

I like having the decisions I make immediately confirmed. It relieves my anxiety by assuring me that I will soon receive whatever I am expecting or arrive on schedule at the place where I am planning to go. Receiving immediate confirmation makes me feel more confident about the choices that I make. Someone else has validated them as being legitimate.

But as a person of faith, the decisions that I make in response to God’s call in my life are rarely confirmed in such a timely manner. As I give leadership to the church that I’ve been serving for the last ten years, I often have to go a long time without any way of knowing whether the actions I take or the strategies I support will work out or not. Faith decisions don’t come with immediate confirmation.

That creates a lot of ambiguity and can really be disturbing at times. It wakes me up at 2:00 o’clock in the morning with questions and doubts and uncertainties that can’t be resolved. I would love to be able to boot up my computer and receive email from God confirming the decisions that I make every day as I seek to be faithful in my work, but so far nothing has shown up in my “inbox”.

When I read the biblical stories of people responding to God’s call in their lives, I find it comforting to discover that they, too, have to wait a long time to receive confirmation about the decisions that they make in faith. Even people who witness amazing epiphanies often go for years, decades, sometimes even lifetimes before receiving any confirmation that the decisions they made in response to their experiences of God’s revelation were the right decisions.

 As I give leadership to the church that I’ve been serving for the last ten years, I often have to go a long time without any way of knowing whether the actions I take or the strategies I support will work out or not. Faith decisions don’t come with immediate confirmation.   

Abraham and Sarah waited twenty five years after leaving their ancestral home in Ur before becoming parents in the place where God had lead them. Moses wondered forty years in the wilderness of Sinai before seeing the Promised Land. Wise men from the east traveled all the way to Jerusalem before learning that their journey was not in vain. Even Mary, after giving birth to Jesus in Bethlehem’s manger, waited thirty years before receiving confirmation that Gabriel’s message about her son was true.

Our digital culture conditions us to expect immediate confirmation of the decisions we make in response to God’s call in our lives. But it is the ancient stories recorded in scripture that more accurately reflect our own experiences. The decisions we make in response to God’s call in our lives often take months, years, decades, and sometimes even lifetimes to confirm. As so as the apostle Paul reminds us, “…we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).”

But I still check my email every day.

 Conversation starters for small group discussion:

1.Share stories of how some of the decisions you have made in faith have been confirmed for you.
2.Discuss ways that the members of your small group can help each other continue to “walk by faith” as you await
   confirmation of the decisions and actions you have taken in response to God’s call.