Dec. 1, 2008 - Walking in the Dark

*****No Cliffnotes: Micah writting about walking by faith, even when it doesn't make sense******

It's been a real answer to many prayers that Marla and I have been able to remain in God's peace these past couple of months, and for those prayers we thank all of you. It's not that times have been particularly hard for us, there are just a lot of unknowns in front of us. We are facing a lot of things that we cannot control, and the way things play out will greatly effect our lives. Not our lives "down the road sometime," theoretically, but immediately. We know this peace that engulfs us is an answer to prayer from God and not just willfully pushing out of our consciousness the questions that we don't have answers for. Because each time someone asks us "so what's next for you guys?" we are faced once again with the uncertainty of these days; we are faced once again with these questions that don't yet have answers, and we are not scared. We are not anxious. We know how we would like things to go, we have our ideas, our goals. Things like:
We will be funded by June of 2009, we will be returning to Brazil in July of 2009, we will work at starting a new church when we arrive, we will be successful. Other things like Noel will be born without problems in February here in Portland, she will be ready to travel by March and we will live in Alaska from March to June. For each one of these plans that I have just mentioned, there are about 1 million "what ifs" that could lead us in different directions. What if Noel isn't born healthy? What if she has a sever complication? What if she'll never be able to live in a place without the most modern medical facilities? What if Noel is not granted her Brazilian visa? What if we can't get back into the Brazil? What if we can't raise the support we need because of the economic situation? There is literally no end to such questions, and no limit to how many times they can run through our heads if we would but agree to entertain them. But God's Word is good, and He has confirmed so many times to me lately just to continue to trust our future to Him.

The first time was when I started to worry, God brought to mind in the 14th chapter of John. In the text, Jesus had just predicted his own death and the desertion of all of the disciples, and then He encourages them with these words: "Do not LET your hearts be troubled, trust in God. Trust also in me." The words "DO NOT LET," in particular stood out to me. This is not a passive verb, but an active verb. It would seem, from the text, that our hearts natural tendency is to be troubled. We are to actively "not let" it be so. And all of this is done, according to the text, by trust. Trusting God, and trusting Christ.

A few weeks ago in my morning devotions, God spoke to me again as I was reading through the book of Isaiah in my Portuguese Bible. In verse 16 of chapter 28, my version reads "Quem tem fé, não tem medo." Which translated means: "Who has faith, does not have fear." So it would seem from this verse, that the degree of peace that we have in our lives corresponds to the degree that we believe that Romans 8:28 "that all things work together for good to them that love God."

Then, more recently, reading on in Isaiah again I came across a very interesting verse that I had never seen before (or at least had never stuck out to me before in the whole area of faith for the future) And this verse was the doozie. Isaiah 50:10-11 reads: "Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow."

As I read this verse, I noticed two groups of people who were in the same situation. Both groups were in the dark, and both groups were walking. It might even be argued that both groups were in the dark BECAUSE they had obeyed the voice of God's servant. But the first continued walk even though he couldn't see, because he trusted God. And the others tried to "keep walking" on their own terms. They had to understand the darkness, they had to "see" what they were passing though, they had to know what lay ahead before they could take another step. Of the two groups, the second group was more informed, they were better prepared, and yet it was they who ended in sorrow. It would seem that both groups were doing the will of God (obeying the voice of God's servant and walking) but the second group did it on their own terms. And in the end, they ended in sorrow. There are all kinds of Biblical examples of this. Abraham jumps to mind. He was a guy who trusted God for most of his life with huge decisions. He walked in the dark without a light for so long. But when he tried to light his own torch (to make God's promise of a son happen on his terms), he ended up sorry for that decision. Moses also comes to mind. He was a man that saw the oppression of his people, and as a prince of Egypt tried to do something about it on his own terms in his own timing, only to be expelled to 40 years of tending sheep before God was ready to use him. These were men of faith. These were people God greatly used. They were called by God and responded to his voice. But what did they do when they entered the darkness (perhaps for the thousandth time)? Did they continue to walk in their calling even though they didn't have the answers? Or, when it became dark, or they became tired of the darkness did they "take inventory of the situation" first, and do what was prudent? Did they do what made sense? And then I remember that often history judges men far different than how God judges men.

So as these days grow dark economically, perhaps politically. As those of us trying to follow God hear of wars, and rumors of wars, what is our response? Do we make a plan, do we make our own provisions, or do we keep walking though we don't know what is around the corner, trusting God to sustain us. One choice make sense to the world, and one does not. So Marla and I choose to walk on in darkness, encouraged by the power of your prayers and encouraged by comfort of God's word. Not because we can see the future, but because we can remember God's faithfulness to us in the past. And because we trust in His goodness.

Thank you for your prayers,
in Him, for Him,
Micah and Marla