Faith...just like the foot; made for one step at a time!

Scripture Read: Chapter 7:9-14 Now the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands. “But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, and you will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant down to the outposts of the army that was in the camp. Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.” His friend replied, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand.”

Application: When we read passages like this we should really be challenged to stop making excuses for our own struggle in Faith. Please note I said "struggle" - that does not mean "no" faith. No faith means we doubt God, struggle means we are tempted to doubt and that we do doubt ourselves. Also, I am not be judgmental…we all struggle in our faith, but we should stop making excuses. Just admit our weak flesh and deal with it.  What we see God do here should encourage us to have the courage to take that first step because God will do more than we can imagine to enable our faith to grow. 

That’s the key! We see an issue and try to envision how we can get to the end, which is anywhere between 7 to 50 steps down the road. How foolish! Faith does not work that way. When Jesus started with His disciples it was in Matthew 10 not in Acts 28! He began on step one, and that is where we need to begin. We need to stop trying to believe God that we can conquer the world for Him when we can’t even stop that silly sin that has been hounding us for years!  We should approach our life one step at a time. Leaps only land us off balance and in danger of falling. No, my friends, we were made to take life one-step at a time and allow God to determine the length of the stride and the speed. Gideon was struggling and God gave him 2 choices. One would have caused more growth - yet due to the grace and love of our Lord, He offered Gideon a smaller step of faith. Yes this would cause a smaller growth in his maturity, but God is more patient than we are. Usually we want immediate and maximum results. God will accept a little instead of failure and no growth. Just like the man in Mark. He did believe in Jesus, but he knew his flesh was weak. He took the step to ask and made it clear that he did have faith in Jesus.

Mark 9:20–24 They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. “It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

The Lord saw his step and honored it! Perhaps we need to stop making excuses for not taking a step, instead just be honest with the Lord and ourselves; step out asking God to confirm! We might be surprised how patient and gracious He is!

Meditation Questions: What does it take for you to take one step in faith? Why? Have you believed God for big things before? What happened? What does that show you? When you asked God to do something big, what step did you try and start on? What has that taught you? Is there anything that God has asked that you still have not given in on? Should He give you more if you cannot handle that? Why? Will you ask God to show you just one step He wants you to take in your life right now? If so, what do you expect? If not, why?