Journey Of Faith

I am almost finished reading "Chasing Daylight" by Erwin McManus, which has been an inspiring read about seizing divine moments and living a passionate life pursuing God's will and purposes.  In his chapter on 'Uncertainty', McManus discusses the progression of faith in the context of miracles by making a comparison between Moses standing at the edge of the Red Sea and Joshua standing at the edge of the Jordan River.

"With Moses, God parted the waters, and then the people crossed over."

It is relatively easy to step out in faith when we see the miracle first.  God does something spectacular that demands our attention and gives us the confidence to embrace those divine moments.  When the waters are parted and we see the way through, standing on the edge of faith is exciting.

"With Joshua, the leaders were required to begin crossing first, and then the waters parted."

It is quite another story stepping out in faith before the miracle occurs.  God's promises go before divine moments giving us confidence that He 'can', however, that confidence requires us to trust that He 'will'.  When the waters block our path and we cannot see the way through, standing on the edge of faith is scary.

McManus captures this development of faith that comes through maturity in Christ brilliantly:

"What it means to live on the edge as your faith begins to develop is not the measure of faith when you walk in maturity.  You should expect and desire that God would move from parting the waters while you stand on the edge of the shore to calling you to step out into the waters and experience the miracle happening around you.  In the first, you watch the miracle.  But in the second, you become a part of it.  Both experiences were expressions of a journey of faith.  Both had amazing similarities, but what God required in the second exeeded what He required in the first." (McManus 2002, p. 89)

There is another dimension of faith living that takes us beyond the need for the certainty of miracles to act.  When our faith rises to a level of maturity that drives us to act amidst the uncertainty of life, but within the certainty of God's faithfulness, we create the context for miracles to happen!