By Faith: Following What You Can't See

I used to think of faith as just a word for someone who believes in God. Don't get me wrong, that is faith. Faith is placing your trust in Christ as your Savior, even though you've never seen Him face to face. You believe who the Bible says He is, and you trust in that and in Him. But faith also includes taking steps of faith and trusting God daily.

Now, let me tell you about a story where four kids (and a dwarf) are taking a walk and have to have faith. It is my favorite part in the book Prince Caspian from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, when Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are trying to get to a specific place, but they don't know the way. What happens next, is Aslan the lion shows up to guide them. The problem is that only Lucy can see him. Now, three of the four children must follow a guide that they believe in, but they can't see. And Lucy needs to follow Aslan, because she knows that it is what he wants her to do, even if the others choose not to follow her.

This is a picture of faith. Faith, in Lucy's case, is different from her brothers and sister, but it is all a journey of faith. For Lucy, faith is obediently following where Aslan leads; she already trusts him enough to see him, but she must also stop walking in the wrong direction, against the majority. For Peter, Susan, and Edmund, who can't see Aslan, faith is trusting in what they can't see, because they already know Aslan, and they know he can be trusted, so they'll follow without sight. And by the end of the end of the journey, because one by one they fully believe and trust in where Aslan leads, they see him.

There are a couple of reasons why I love this part of the story. It relates so clearly to my life, I've often had to take steps of faith because I'm certain God is leading a direction even if I'm having a hard time seeing where I'll end up. There have also been times I've had to have faith to walk a different path than the world around me because I know God didn't want me to go where other people were leading.

I also love this scene because it reminds me of Hebrews 11, the “Faith Hall of Fame.” In this chapter of the Bible, there are many examples of people from the Old Testament who lived by faith. Hebrews 11:1 states “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Sometimes, like Lucy, we can't see the end goal of where we are going but we know it is where God is leading us. Faith is confidently believing God and His word, it is believing that God will keep His promises. It might mean stepping out and doing something hard and unknown, but it leads to God's will being done. This is what we see in the lives of the many people listed in Hebrews 11, people like Noah and Abraham, like Moses, like the people who walked through the parted Red Sea, people who followed what God told them to do even if logical sense or the world told them not to.

Faith is obediently following where God leads, even if you never get to see the end result. Moses never made it into the promised land, and Abraham never saw the number of his descendents reach the number of stars in the sky, but they faithfully did what God called them to do. They were living by faith.

Faith is letting go of my plan, for God's plan. It is not having a safety net to rely on, because you know there is no need for a safety net, because God won't drop you. Trusting in Him and His plans for your life every day, because He loves you, He knows you, He created you. Because we can place our faith in Him today and every day, because He'll not leave us to deal with life on our own. So take the steps of faith that God is directing you to take. He wants to lead you. Have the faith to follow Him.