No Fair, Peeking!!

Proverbs 3:5,6  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”  (NIV)

My four year old son, Nathan, walks into my bedroom the other day and informs me that there’s something he wants me to see in the kitchen.  Only catch is, I have to close my eyes and let him lead me to the place where  the big reveal would happen.  So I did what any loving father and seasoned parent would do….I placed my hand (well, a few fingers of it anyway) into his, started walking as he pulled me along, and peaked!  That’s right, it shames me to admit it, but I didn’t trust my son enough to totally abandon myself to his leading. All I could think about was how painful it would be to ram my toe or shin into a piece of furniture, and to be quite honest with you, I tend to be allergic to pain.

How often is our trust in God much like the trust (or lack of it) that I demonstrated in Nathan?  We’re okay when His plan leads us down “well-lit” paths where we can see how things are going to play out.  But where we struggle is when the path He chooses to take us on is one that only illuminates one step at a time.  In those moments of our journey He asks us to take His hand and let Him lead us into the darkness of the unknown (“trust in the Lord with all your heart”).  And we flinch….and secretly look for an opportunity to “peek”. 

The writer of Proverbs understood our human tendency to be self-reliant (“lean not on your own understanding”), so he wrote verses like those above to challenge us to let go of control (“in all your ways acknowledge Him”) and trust the unseen hands of a loving, powerful, and good Father.  And that’s really the key to this faith-walk we are on.  It’s not a “blind faith” as some would suggest, but a faith born out of the character of our God.  You see, when we really get a hold of how unflinching His love is, we can press our hand tightly into His and move in response to the gentle pull of a loving Father leading us.  When we grasp the immensity of His power, we can push aside fear and walk with the confidence that He is going to get us safely to our destination.  When we are convinced of His goodness, we can ignore the voices screaming at us for “sight” and, with a calm that defies logic, take one step of faith after another into the darkness.

It’s Christmas day in the Hausman household and this time it’s me asking my son to close his eyes and let me lead him into the room where specially selected gifts are waiting.  He doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t peek.   With childlike faith in a father he’s never had reason to doubt  he grabs my hand, squeezes his eyes tightly shut, walks where I lead and lays his eyes on the prize that has been waiting to be revealed. 

Today God is holding out His hand and asking you to trust Him…He is promising a reward beyond our comprehension if we will but follow where He leads…the only catch?  We may be asked to “close our eyes” at some point and allow Him to lead us through the darkness (maybe in the form of a physical ailment, a financial disaster, a severed relationship, a betrayal, a transition…the list could go on and on).  May we, without flinching, grab on and embark on the great adventure of faith (“He will direct our paths!”).  One thing’s for sure….He’s never yet run someone into a piece of furniture!

Clark Hausman
Clark is the pastor of Moyock Assembly of God.