The Step

Do you ever feel like your life is on hold? Waiting for that One Thing.

The thing you feel you can’t do without. 

I, too, have waited, crying out. Sometimes we wait for ‘the’ answer.

What should I do? What job or profession should I pursue? What should I involve myself in? For many of us, we become planted, stuck, unable to move forward until we get special confirmation of absolute clarity that this is the ‘right’ thing.

I hate to make mistakes. I don’t want to look stupid. I can’t afford (financially or emotionally) to do this over, so I need to do it ‘right’. 

And, there is peer pressure – what will ‘they’ think?

Peer pressure is alive and well, even in 53 year old moms like me.

I have been thinking lately of Moses as he stood before the sea leading the Israelites out of captivity and what that must have felt like.

Imagine…

Moses had a mean and strong Egyptian army, complete with chariots, coming after him and he is backed up against an ocean (of water, of doubt, of uncertainty).

Also, in the scene…  11/2 million of Moses’ own people (friends, family and others) who were watching him and what he would do faced with the sea on one side and the army on the other.

This gives a new dimension to peer pressure! A million times more.

And, amidst this backdrop he is called on to make a decision.

What do you do? Do you wait for confirmation? Do you cry? Do you keep listening to the crowd’s opinions and complaints?  

Unbelievable pressure. Unbelievable decision, requiring a move. Into the unknown. Literally, into the waters.

Listen to the verse that describes that moment, described by the Lord, Himself, who knows Moses’s heart.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the waters so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground”. – Exodus 14:15,16

God’s advice to Moses, the super condensed, Sandra version is:

‘Man Up’

‘MOVE!’

Often do I need to hear that in my own life, particularly in my faith walk.

I stand on hold, waiting. For perfection. Waiting for the perfect time. The perfect friend to accompany me. The perfect confirmation.

God’s call to us in the everyday moments is often a ‘move’. And, sometimes, ‘move on’ – let go of the past, let go of your regrets, let go of your bitterness, let go of that person you are holding onto so tightly. Move on.

‘Move’.

God does have a direction we are to move – towards Him, near Him, after Him. Moving, in faith, as Moses was called on, not into perfection or the known.

[tweetthis display_mode=”box”]Faith is trusting God He will open up the way before you.[/tweetthis]

You don’t have to see the whole picture, or have all the answers, or know the exact destination, but move we must. One little step. One act of faith. Faith requires a step – a move towards God Himself. A trust move.

As we approach a New Year, let us consider how God is moving us. Am I approaching a ‘faith step’ – a small call that requires a heart leap in trust?

Show us this day, Lord, the step we must take.