2 Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.“

My thoughts tonight flashbacked to my first job as my dog Joby did something remarkable. I inadvertently threw his training dummy off a bridge over a lake as I was trying to throw it on the bridge for him. In landed in the middle of the lake. Joby was a little tentative as a young puppy with the water, so it took a lot of lessons to get him to swim and get over his fear.

I pondered what to do, if we should just leave the dummy. But I had another idea, I would see if Joby would trust me and swim out and get it. This would be a monumental task, as he never swam that far in his short life. So instead of thinking about it any further, I decided we’d try it. I got Joby into the water who then followed me along the bridge, he was placing his whole faith in me. Then I pointed out to the dummy, and there he went, just a year old. He let all that fear behind and retrieved it without hesitation as I cheered him on, a very LONG swim for any dog. I praised him for this! I think he knew he did something great, hearing the excitement in my voice.

But flashing back to this idea of walking by faith, it brought me back to my first job. A co-worker and I were on the road early one morning with separate trucks going to do some field work. We were both quite young and eager to complete our work. On the way the sky got totally dark, the winds picked up, and a torrential downpour started along with hail. My co-worker was behind me, so I got on the radio and told her that we had no place to go but forward. I had thought she would have stopped as I kept driving right through the storm. I couldn’t see a thing except the side of the road. About 15 minutes of this, the sky lightened and I looked in my rear view mirror and there she was! She didn’t stop, she placed her faith in my ability to get us through the storm. It gave me an immediate profound and lasting respect for her just as I did had for Joby today and his accomplishment. They removed all of their fear, something that is unnatural in doing. Walking by faith and not by sight is not a natural ability.

Tying all of this to faith in God, He must also feel somewhat that way when one blindly follows Him, as we remove all fear. If He has graced you with a new heart, the unnatural became a new natural. Because it is a trust in Him that no matter the storm or circumstance, He can see that you are still following Him! It is when we stray off course, when we stop trusting His lead, that is when things go bad. Born-again, we now walk by faith, not by sight! You can’t be trusting in God if you are doubting Him, if there is fear. It is when the skies in your life turn dark, that’s when the test of saving faith in God comes. When you are tasked to blindly do something and just have faith that no matter what the outcome, no matter if your very life depended on it, that God will see you through that storm. You keep driving, you don’t stop, you swim out in the middle completely trusting in Him without hesitation or fear or doubt as an analogy to the examples I gave above.

Scripture teaches us that it is FAITH which pleases God. And I will bet you can think back on your life whether it was a young child or a pet or a friend or family member who blindly trusted you, and the satisfaction that gave you because they placed their faith in you to see the task through, even with their very own life.

I do believe God gives us at times examples like this so that we know that our faith in Him is not in vain. That He deeply cares about us just as we do the loved the ones in our lives. What a great God He is!  So today, if you have not done so, place your whole faith alone in Jesus Christ!  Believe that He is the Savior, that He redeemed you from ALL of your sins, and repent of them. Nothing more than faith, of which He grants by grace, pleases Him!