I don’t know where to go from here

It all used to seem so clear

I’m finding I can’t do this on my own

These opening lines to the Sidewalk Prophets song, “Help Me Find It“, sure express how I’ve felt at times.

Sometimes we’re headed one direction, breezing along. No problems. Everything is fine. Then all of a sudden BOOM! There’s a roadblock and we’re forced to go in the complete opposite direction. I don’t even know how many times I have set off one direction in life to find I ended up taking some side roads.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about something Sir Isaac Newton discovered in the 1600s. Action comes before reaction.

If I expect the automatic door at the store to open, I have to step up and activate the mechanism which opens the door. Staring at the door won’t open it. Wishing it would open won’t grant me admission. Hoping it will open? Nope.

Waiting for someone else to activate the open-sesame apparatus could take forever. If I want that door to open, I have to take the necessary action to cause my desired reaction.

If you’ve seen the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I’m sure you remember when Indie rushes to find the Holy Grail so he can bring life-saving water back to his dying father.

Following directions written in an ancient book, Indie gets to an opening and sees no way to cross the gorge that gapes before him.

Only a leap from the lion’s head will prove his worth. It’s a leap of faith. You must believe.

When Indie steps out into the nothingness before him in faith, when he makes the first move, when he acts, a bridge across the gorge appears. Indiana Jones makes it safely to the other side.

Action before reaction.

So I’m thinking…if I want the door to open it’s up to me to step forward. I have to walk by faith, not by sight. I have to take that first step in faith – action – before God will work–reaction.

In the Bible story recorded in Genesis 22, where Abraham is ready to offer up his son, Isaac, Abe had to lift his knife into the air ready to plunge it deep into the body of his son before God provided a ram for the sacrifice.

When Joshua and the Israelites got to the flooded Jordan River, Joshua 3:14-17 tells us as soon as the priests’ feet touched the water’s edge the water upstream stopped flowing. They had to step into liquid before they could cross on dry ground. Remember, these men had lived their whole life in the desert. They didn’t know how to swim.

The ten lepers in Luke 17 had to head toward the priest as Jesus instructed before Jesus healed their leprosy.

The man with a shriveled hand in Matthew 12 had to stretch out his hand as he was told, before Jesus made it whole.

Action came before reaction. They walked by faith. Not by sight.

Are you having to walk by faith and not by sight? Hang on. Keep trusting. Remember what God’s brought you through before. He didn’t bring you this far to drop you now.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.  2 Corinthians 5:7

I wish you well.

Sandy

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