Anyone who is seeking an adventure is up for the thrill of their lives when they choose to follow Jesus. It's thrilling because it involves so much trust and so much of stepping out into the unknown. Abraham was called this way. God told him to go, and he went; and when he did, he never questioned the Lord. Abraham was always bold in his faith by trusting the Lord to do whatever he was told to do even up to the point of almost sacrificing (because the Lord stopped him anyway) his one and only promised son.
If you have heard of the song 'Oceans' by Hillsong, the lyrics pretty much sum up such adventure.
You call me out upon the waters,
the great unknown where feet may fail.
The unknown is a place where a lot of people don't want to step out into because of the fear of failure. It's also the perfect place to cultivate daring faith. See, people who are daring are the ones who reach their dreams. They are the ones who get to take hold of miracles, and are also the same ones through whom more miracles are created.
If we are willing to believe it, God can do for us and through us one supernatural thing after the other. Moses parted the Red Sea, David slew a giant with a sling and a stone, Queen Esther saved the entire Jewish race, Elijah called down fire from heaven, Elisha raised a dead boy, King Jehoshaphat defeated three powerful armies through praise, Peter walked on water, Paul healed a lot of people, John the Beloved saw the end of the age...I can go on. The point is, these people believed in God and stepped out into the unknown doing things that had never been done before.
Here's the point: things that had never been done before. It may be that other people have done such things already, but what about you? What are the things that you've never done before?
Failure is possible, no doubt. I've failed to do what the Lord had me do a lot of times already, but the good news is, He doesn't leave His people in the state of failure. Like the Lord did with Peter when he began to sink after he saw the waves that surrounded him, Jesus will grab hold of our arm and pull us back up. He will never let us sink.
I believe that the Lord will not keep us in the realm of comfort. He wants us to grow and there is no space for growth in the comfort zone. He will not let us become stagnant and cozy in our caves where everything is already oh, so familiar. If we are willing to follow Him, He'll take us out on the waters, and as the song goes, the great unknown where feet may fail. Sometimes though, when we get lazy and stubborn, He'll drag us out of our comfort zone kicking and screaming. Is He mean? Nope. For example, I hated going to the dentist as a child and so, for my own good, my Mom would take me there despite my massive protests and a lot of whining and crying. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely not. Did it benefit me? In every way. So in the same way, God will sacrifice our cozy for our own benefit. God's decisions are all driven by His love for us, remember that.
It's OK to fail. It's OK to get tired. What's not OK is if we give up after we fail. What's not OK is we stay tired. We have to get back on our feet and learn from the failures. When we get tired, let's rest, but let's not quit.
The Lord has so much in store for those who are willing to believe in Him and trust in Him. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Cor. 2:9), but we will never know unless we decide to get out and get 'em. We'll never know what it's like to walk on water unless we choose the unknown. Well, it may be unknown for us but God knows the way through and through. He is the author of it and He never fails.
Undoubtedly, fear will get in the way. But we have to decide to get over that.
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me,
You've never failed, and You won't start now.
God never fails. When we get scared, He's there, and He'll never fail to save us. He'll never give up on us as long as we don't give up on Him. It takes guts to follow Him, a lot of it, but it's worth it.
