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Saturday, September 6, 2008

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Faith that Falls


"Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated.
You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps."
— David Lloyd George

When we talk about faith, we have talked about steps of faith and we have talked at times about leaps of faith.  As the quote by David George, British politician and prime minister from 1916-1922 says, sometimes we are called upon to take that leap, that giant step, and to make what we would consider to be a huge jump.  There is no other way.  God has asked something of you or I and we have to dare to make the jump or we will never get to where he wants us to be.  You simply can't cross a chasm in two smaller steps so you must leap and hope and trust.

But what about when you giant step out in faith, when you go for that daring leap, and nothing solid appears under your feet?  You have faithed it believing that God would come through for you like in the Indiana Jones movie where he steps out in faith but now, you find yourself not standing on anything solid but rather falling to what seems disaster.  What are we to do when our faith falls?  I didn't say fails, because faith never fails.  But sometimes it does fall.  What are we to do then?  Hope we survive somehow and never faith again?

There is a wonderful passage in Exodus 19 that talks about exactly this predicament of faith.  What to do when your faith falls.  What are we to do?  We are to embrace the fall and faith some more!

"You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I have carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.  Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:4-6).

Here on the west coast, we get to watch eagles train their young to fly.  And God wants us to fly like the eagle in our faith (Isaiah 40:31).  However, like the baby eagle, although born with a desire and the equipment to fly, they still need to learn how.  Once we are born again, we have a inborn desire to faith, but we still need to learn how.  We like the eagle, learn to fly by falling.

When it is time for the baby eagles to learn how to fly, their parents push them out of the nest and they flap and fall.  And then, just before they hit the earth and go splat, mom or dad swoops down underneath them and catches them on their back between their wings.  What then?  You guessed it.  Back to the nest.  And we do it all over again.  Are the mature eagles being mean?  No, it is important that the young ones learn to fly.  They will not survive without this skill.

God does the same thing.  He calls us to faith in a particular thing or incident.  He pushes us out of the safety of the nest as it were.  And most of us flap and fall.  When this is happening, we are convinced that we will not survive and that if we ever make it back to the safety of the nest, we will never do that again.  We may even fight the Lord on this one.  But he knows that we need to be able to fly in faith if we are ever going to survive as a Christian and accomplish what he has planned for us in the world.  So he prods and pushes and calls.  Jump!  And, if we are obedient and esteem his covenant relationship with us, we will jump.  And flap.  And fall.  He does this to and for every one of his precious children.

"For the LORD's portion is his people . . . He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like a eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads it wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions" (Deuteronomy 32:9-11).

The fact that we faith and fall is a guarantee that the Lord cares for us.  He wants us to learn how to fly.  He wants us to be able to faith in amazing ways and ride the winds of the Spirit.  And he is overhead, hovering, while we "learn."  He will never let us crash and burn.  He comes to our rescue and bears us up on his wings of faith so that we can leap again.  And then we learn to fly, and then there are a whole bunch more lessons to learn — to learn how to use our faith and see amazing things happen!  Don't be afraid to jump!  He will always catch you if you fall and someday soon, you will find yourself flying in faith!  "Those who hope in the Lord . . . will soar on wings liked eagles" (Isaiah 40:31).

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