Stepping out in Faith – Deuteronomy 31:3
It is the Lord your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken.
Step out in faith, and God will lead you into places of beauty and glory.
Look at Abraham. When God told him to leave his country, relatives, and father’s house to go to a new land, Abraham departed as the Lord instructed.[1] Though he passed through hostile territory and waited decades to see the fullness of God’s plan, Abraham lived to see the Lord’s promises to him fulfilled, for the Lord honored his obedience by blessing him beyond measure.
We too can rest in the assurance that the Lord will make our paths straight as we put our faith in Him, trusting Him with our hearts’ desires.[2] We need not fear that He will abandon us in a desert place if we turn aside from the comfortable and well known to embark on a journey into unfamiliar territory with Him. We can follow Him knowing with absolute confidence that He has gone ahead to prepare the roadway for us, and to create streams of pure water running through the sun-parched land.[3]
Imagine that no one less than the King of the universe Himself will make our way smooth. At precisely the most beneficial time, He will remove the hindrances to our progress, so that we may accomplish the good works that He has prepared for us.[4] As we place our hope in Him, we can go into foreign lands strong and courageous, for He will be with us.[5] As we trust, not in others or ourselves, but in the Lord, we will find Him faithful. According to His kind intention toward us, He will make us like trees planted by the water with roots so deep wind cannot uproot us, heat cannot destroy us, and drought cannot desiccate us.[6] Listen to what the Lord is leading you to do today. Whatever it is, step out in faith. Trust in your God, the One who walks arm in arm with you, the One who guides you in the profitable way. He is ever mindful of you, and He will not fail nor forsake you.[7] He has crossed ahead of you to prepare your way, and He has proven Himself trustworthy to bless and keep you.[8] Follow Him, and the your joy and security will go so deep that nothing will be able to steal your victory in Jesus.[9]
My eyes searched the desert sand
And scanned across the sun-parched land
In hopes to see the rivers’ flow
To find the way that I must go
If from this heat, I’d gain relief
To rescue me from unbelief
From fear of what lay up ahead
To enter into joy instead
Of wandering so aimlessly
With clouded eyes that could not see
The glorious, the pure, the clear
The streams of life so far, yet near
A step in faith, at last, I take
Dismay I finally forsake
In freedom walking unafraid
Upon the path which He has laid
[1] Genesis 12:1-4
[2] Proverbs 3:5-6
[3] Isaiah 43:19
[4] 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13, Ephesians 2:10
[5] Psalm 31:24
[6] Jeremiah 17:5, 7-8
[7] Deuteronomy 31:8
[8] Psalm 115:11-12
[9] Jeremiah 42:10
