As soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord . . . set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap. (Josh. 3:13)
WHEN MY SON WAS five years old, he had absolute faith in his dad. Simon was so sure his dad would be there for him that one day he launched himself off a trampoline with arms outstretched, yelling “Catch me, Dad!”—even though his dad’s back was turned to him. One broken arm later, Simon learned an important lesson about caution.
Caution seems to be a lesson most of us have learned by the time we’re adults, perhaps too well. We’ve been let down so often by imperfect and sometimes even ill-intentioned humans that we can’t get ourselves to trust even God to catch us. We’re not so sure His back isn’t turned to us, so we keep ourselves in a safe place.
Trusting God is an act of worship. It delights Him to see that we know Him well enough to believe He is there for us. Taking a leap of faith means launching ourselves into His arms with absolute confidence, even though we can’t see Him. It means obeying Him unreservedly, even though we don’t know what’s going to happen when we do. Just as the Israelites had to step into the water of the Jordan River while it was still flowing rapidly before God parted it, we have to step out in faith to see His mighty works in our lives.
Take action now on the thing you know you are supposed to do.
Heather Gemmen Wilson is a bestselling author and international speaker. She is married to a Wesleyan pastor, and together they have six children. She is also author of the preteen Lydia Barnes series (WPH).
