The Leap of Faith

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Growing up, I was always afraid of heights. After much convincing, I would sometimes try different things like rollercoaster’s or climbing a tree but there was one thing I could never talk myself into doing… jumping off the highest diving board at our local water park. Several times I would climb the huge ladder all the way to the top and slowly make my way to the edge of the board but as soon as I looked down and saw how far away the water was, I would freeze. Every bone in my body would hold me back from jumping off. It was a fear of the unknown. It was something I had to do alone; no one could help me and I simply wasn’t brave enough to face that fear and take the leap of faith.

In the same way, as Christians, we often have a similar experience in our walk with Christ to the one of facing the high diving board. We have no problem “climbing the ladder” in our relationship with Christ – growing closer to Him and reaping His blessings.  But when the comfort of the handles on the ladder are gone and we get to the edge of the diving board and see what it is God is really asking of us, every bone in our body – our human nature - holds us back from jumping off. We have complete and utter fear of the unknown when we realize we really have no idea what will happen if we take the leap of faith to get to the place God wants us to be in our lives.

 Jumping off and taking the leap of faith seems impossible at first. We may think we are alone and can’t possibly be brave enough to do it. We remember how much more comfortable we were on the ground and may be tempted to turn back. But we can’t because we’ve already climbed the ladder - we’ve already grown closer to the Lord and received blessings from Him. We have to take the leap. Unlike a real diving board experience though, we will not be jumping off from the safety of the board alone. There is someone who will be jumping off with us and will also be there when we land in the water below… the Lord Himself. But how do we possibly take the leap of faith?

Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” To take the leap of faith, all we have to do is trust in the Lord with all our hearts. It sounds easy, but it really is one of the hardest tasks a Christian will ever have. To trust God with all our hearts means that we don’t have even one little doubt come into our minds about what He can do for us in an impossible situation. That is faith – to be sure of what you hope for and what you cannot see. Oswald Chambers once stated “Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us.” We can’t doubt God’s power and plan if we want to truly trust Him.

This passage not only says to trust in the Lord with all your heart but it also says to lean not unto your own understanding. The word “trust” here is often used with the word “dwell” meaning safety and security. By trusting we learn to dwell in the Lord completely. Safety and security is not something we can get from our own strength. We have to let go of our desires to be in control and our want to understand everything that is happening to us and just focus on dwelling in the One who does. We may not understand why God is doing something, yet we cannot base a situation on what we think, we have to base it on what God thinks. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” Just because we can’t see what God is doing doesn’t mean that He doesn’t have a plan. A farmer sows and tends to his crop, then leaves the harvest to God. The farmer can’t bring sunshine and rain; only God can do that. In the same way, we have to leave the results of a situation to God’s control. We can sow the seeds and tend to the crop, but we have to leave the outcome up to the Lord. If we desire what He wills and wants for our lives and don’t look to our own way or plans, then we will learn to trust Him.

Verse 6 in Proverbs 3 goes on to say “In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy path.” The word “acknowledge” means to admit existence, to recognize, or to express thanks and gratitude. Whatever situation you are in or circumstance you're going through acknowledge Him. Recognize how He has used it to strengthen you and thank Him for it. Don’t just thank Him for letting you climb the ladder – for growing more in Him and all His blessings – but also thank Him for taking you to the edge of the diving board - for helping you to realize you cannot walk the Christian life alone. When you do all of this God will direct your path, He will help you as you take the leap of faith. He promises that He will. The verse says “He shall direct thy paths.”  1 Corinthians 16:10 says “He worketh.” It’s present tense – happening now. As soon as we trust Him, let Him control our lives, and fully acknowledge Him, He begins working.

Knowing that God will be there with us no matter what happens, guiding us and leading us to where He wants us to be, will give us the peace and comfort we need to let go of the things we hold onto in life for safety and to take the jump. When we let go of our “safety blankets”, it allows our hands to be free to completely hold onto God. If you are close enough to Him, He won’t let a second go by without your hand being empty. He is there to take it, hold onto it tightly, and never let it go as He leads you in the path for your life. That’s what this passage is talking about – God wants to direct our paths but we have to let Him. The word “direct” means to manage, move toward a goal, and to guide or instruct. That’s what we should strive for as Christians – for God to guide and instruct us as He moves us towards His goal and purpose for our lives.

We may still not know what the outcome will be when we take the leap of faith. But by trusting in God with all your heart, leaning not on your own understanding, and acknowledging Him in all your ways, it will help you to be prepared to go wherever He is taking you. It may not seem like the path of least resistance at the time. It may not be the easy or popular way to go. But when we do take the leap and see where God takes us – how He used our willing, faithful, trusting hearts - we will see that it was worth it to let go of our plans and dreams for His Will and desire for us as He leads us In the Light of His Glory. His way is always best. His plan and timing is forever perfect. All we have to do is take the leap of faith.   

The Master Weaver

The Master Weaver

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28

When we look back on events in our lives, so often we have to admit that we are guilty of trying to justify each one, trying to make each one make sense, and often times we find ourselves standing before God with that event in hand, questioning Him as to why it’s there. It is human nature I suppose, but human nature needs to be buried and a life full of joy and understanding in the Lord needs to be unearthed. It’s what is best for each one of us, and most of all it's what our heavenly Father wants for each of us. He will never force us to turn to Him, to look to Him for understanding, to seek His comfort, His love, and to find rest in His outstretched arms, to become pliable, weaveable under His touch.

In Romans, we begin to find understanding for each area of our life. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). The first thing that catches my attention in the verse is the word “together.” It doesn’t mean separately, apart from, individually, solely, exclusively or aside from; it means in correlation to, in unison, as one, hand-in-hand. It’s not individual events or things in our life acting apart from one another, but instead it is each event or thing acting in conjunction with each other and affecting each other in some way – losing their individuality so that they may blend together as one.

It is often hard for us to see how something or some event will ever be of any good or use to us for that matter. It appears to be a lost hope. God took His hands off of us and allowed the devil to bring a beating down upon us...Why would a loving God allow such a horrible, tainted, and ugly things to take place?...Isn’t He the God of love? Going back to the verse mentioned above, if we take the words “all things” and realize what it is saying, we will look at each area in our life that we want to question and realize it didn’t happen because of a glitch or lifting of God’s hand. “All things” means every event, circumstance, happening, and thing that has been penned in our life’s story was all part of God’s plan. It may only serve as a means of preparing our heart, or maybe preparing us mentally and sometimes even physically. No matter what it’s purpose may be, it has a purpose indeed. It is part of the “all things.” Not some things, not a few things, not the things that we see as good or bad, but ALL things. Each one jointly working together for one purpose – God’s purpose.

Most often the pressure and fire we feel is indeed the Saviour Himself unraveling His all-encompassing love around us. We, in our mortal, fleshly state, fail to see it as love though. His hands blanketed over us in protection are viewed as smothering, His pressing fingers on our clay being are sometimes misunderstood as God causing pain and bad in our life, and His purifying of things that separate us from Him is seen through eyes of resentment and anger. When in reality that isn’t the case at all, but just our fleshly reasoning. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8) In fact, each of those areas are a huge outpouring of God’s love and care in our life. He loved us and accepted us the way we were when we came to Him, but His love is beyond understanding. He takes the unconditional love and strives continually to see us made better. He loves us so much that He will not leave us in our debilitating state that we were found in. He blankets His hands over us to shelter us in His love that nothing can harm us  - “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler” (Psalm 91:4).

He puts our clay being on the Potter’s wheel and with each spin of the wheel, He presses His fingers to begin molding us into the beautiful image that only He can create - “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? Saith the Lord, Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:1). He begins the process of purifying us by fire so that we may emerge pure and more precious with each rise in temperature, with each trial, with each valley  - “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10). It is indeed as Paul said, “all things work together for good.” Each area in our life is tied to another  - blended and weaved - for a purpose that only God knows and can reveal when the timing is right.

If we think of our lives as a basket, we can begin to see how the weaving process takes place, how each event is crucial, how it all weaves together. How “all things work together for good.”  If we want to create a sturdy basket, one that will withstand the wears and tears of life, one that will suffice to carry us through this life, we must create a sturdy base. The base is the first thing that is weaved together. When we come to God for salvation (“…to them that love God…” Romans 8:28), we come torn, tattered, crooked, and out of place. In order to create a sturdy base though, each piece needs to be straightened out, trimmed of tattered edges, and put into its proper place. “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” (Philippians 3:21) Sometimes these pieces are dried out and have become hard and it requires the Weaver to soak them in water (the Word of God, the Holy Spirit working in our lives, the use of others in our lives) in order to become pliable in His hands. “Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about…” (Job 10:8) As the base is established and made sturdy, then the weaving can begin to take place.

Each piece has to be bent up to begin creating the walls – the technical term is literally called “upsetting the spokes.” God brings hard times in our lives – the “upsetting of the spokes” – to bend us upward towards His working hands. “Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:5,6,10) The “upsetting of the spokes” can be thought of as the hard times in our life. The things that bend us out of our normal, fleshly ways. The unexpected happening, the unexpected loss, the unexpected diagnosis – each are bending us, upsetting us. So long as we are pliable under the Weavers touch, we will bend upward and not splinter and break under His weaving. A piece may split under the pressure. It will hurt like nothing has hurt before, but the Weaver applies “ointment” to prevent the split from hurting us any further or from spreading. He heals the wound, but leaves the scar as a reminder.

Imagine the hurt it must cause the Weaver though when a spoke or reed splinters and breaks under His loving touch because it was fighting the bending that means only good. As the splinters – the nails – drive into His hands and fingers, He must grimace in pain and disappointment – feel the hurt that we are going through – feel our body jolt and writhe in pain as we are broken. His hands soothe and calm our being as His heart aches by our unwillingness to be bent. But He doesn’t give up and walk away from the broken one. He begins mending. As the Weaver pulls out the broken, useless spoke, it causes pain once again. The other spokes are moved and rubbed the wrong way, but the Weaver just keeps pulling it until it is loosened from the basket. The pain seems unbearable; the space left is noticeable and unpleasant to look at. But, the Weaver pulls out a new spoke – a second chance - and begins gently weaving it back in the place of the broken piece that was removed. He then goes back and straightens out each piece that was “upset” in the process of removing the broken spoke – the unusable piece – so that it’s purpose may be attained and the weaving can continue. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him…” (Job  13:15) “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2 Corinthians 4:17) “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared every good work.” (Philippians 2:21).

As the weaving continues, the Weaver must constantly tug at each piece so that it forms a tight and unmovable weave – one that won’t fall apart under the strain and the weight of the load it will carry. Thus, the tugging is crucial. No, tugging isn’t pleasant for the one being tugged, but without it, it is left loose and vulnerable to falling apart and separating when under pressure. The tugs – the burdens that tug our heart and pain us – are what strengthen us and allows us to be weaved tighter and sturdier. The tugging insures a sturdy base and creates the arch in it. These arches serve as “feet” to the basket. We need feet to stand. The Weaver tugs to strengthen the base, to create the arch, to give “feet” for which to stand on.

It is only after we have been through the weaving of the base, the “upsetting of the spokes” upward, and the tugging that the Weaver begins to weave each strand in place to create the sides – the walls – of the basket. The walls to hold all that He has for us – the tools for us to use throughout life, the blessings He wishes to shower upon us, and the ability to carry others when they are lacking the strength to stand on their own. The weaving of the sides is where the shape comes into vision. Each piece – event, circumstance, happening, heartache, and joy-filled time – are weaved together. They create the shape of the basket – unique to the Weaver's purpose. No piece can be left out because it would leave a gap or a weak spot in the basket. Each piece, in the words of our verse, “work together for good.” Some of the pieces are bigger than others and are sturdier (the trials in life strengthen) “The Lord will give strength unto his people...” (Psalm 29:11) and some are smaller and more pliable and are easily weaved (the joys, blessings, and laughter in life), but no matter what its size or strength, each one is vital and helps the other.

They work hand-in-hand in the hands of the Weaver. He picks each piece out by hand, choosing each one carefully and lovingly.  He knows the purpose of the basket and He knows which pieces to weave into it so it can fulfill its purpose – “to them who are called according to his purpose.” Each piece – each event, trial, and time in our life – was lovingly and carefully weaved in place by the Weaver Himself. He knew they would be there and He knew that they would weave together perfectly for His purpose. “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:17) He knew exactly where to place each one – the timing of the event – so that it would be used to strengthen and prepare for the next piece to be weaved in. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Each one was carefully and meticulously thought out. Each has a purpose. Each works together for good in the hands of the Weaver. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

No piece – no event, no heartache, no happy time, no hard time – can be left out of the weave. It would be incomplete in form and void of stability. Our life basket is being weaved by the Master Weaver daily. He weaves beauty and color in our lives by adding those pieces – friends, mentors, loved ones – that brighten our being. He leaves no detail void. He has an ultimate goal for our life basket. Sometimes it may seem full and like it isn’t going to hold, but we can have faith in our Weaver that He has weaved each piece in place and it will hold. Our previous happenings have weaved the strength needed for the load that has been placed in our basket. And without each piece in that weave – it wouldn’t be a weave at all. It would be a pile of useless pieces. But in the hands of the Weaver, no piece goes unused.

Trusting Him as our Weaver – our Creator – we are accepting that we can’t carry anything without Him. “In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.” (Psalm 71:1) He weaved us and has enabled us to withstand everything He brings into our life - everything laid in our basket. Without Him – without His weaving – we couldn’t hold the burdens of this life. And, when we have given up all hope, believing that we cannot hold the weight, that we are going to fall apart under the weight of the burden, under the fire of the trail, under the pressures of the world, remember this: the basket of life – our life – is in the hands of the Weaver. He is holding it and is the one bearing the weight. Don’t for a minute think that He expects us to carry it on our own. Our basket can only hold but so much. We are to give over to Him those things which He never intended to be put in our basket (things we untrustingly threw it in there thinking we knew best or could do it on our own). He holds it all in His hands. Trust Him. Trust His weaving. His timing. His willing. His love. Paul said it best, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) May we not question the pieces, but let the Weaver weave each one for His purpose that we may live In the Light of His Glory. “I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” (Psalm 130:14)