Walking on autumn mornings often means fog. I find it ironic that I see so much when the conditions for sight aren’t favorable. I think the fog makes me pay more attention. Plus, it literally gets stuck on my eyelashes so I can’t miss it.
One recent morning I left my driveway, turned up the street and saw the view you see in the picture I attached to this post. I could only see a small distance in front of me. Because I knew what was ahead, I knew the road would veer hard to the right eventually. But if I didn’t know where I was and couldn’t see ahead, I might be skeptical of continuing.
Life comes with a lot of fog. Visibility is often low. Change is forced upon us and it leaves us in a fog not seeing a clear path ahead. This requires faith and obedience. I’m in a foggy patch of life right now. I’m 100 percent sure God wants me to write but I don’t know what exactly. I mean these posts, a devotional, a Bible study, a book of some kind. I don’t know. It’s foggy.
Here’s what I do know. God only asks us to take one step at a time. He doesn’t ask me to make the turn up through the fog before I get there. He just asks me to trust Him on the direction. Slow down, Friends. One step at a time. Faith requires me to take one step at a time even when I can’t see where the road is going.
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” There is a lot of good stuff about faith in Hebrews chapter 11. Go hang out there for a while, you’ll be glad you did. If you read up to verse 6, you’ll see that without faith it is impossible to please God. Impossible.
That’s pretty absolute. If I want to please God (and I very much do) then I’m going have to exercise my faith. I’m going to have to get comfortable with the fog. I’m going to have to obediently keep taking one step at a time.
You know what happens when you keep walking into the fog don’t you? The way clears. I may not be able to see the whole street but when I get to the turn, I can see it. It keeps opening just in front of me. A few steps at a time. One step at a time I can see the road ahead. One step at a time I choose faith and please God.
Sometimes that step looks like saying “yes.” Sometimes it looks like choosing something else or having a different opinion. Sometimes it looks like taking a risk or putting words of faith into public spaces. Sometimes it feels scary. Sometimes no one else understands. Or worse, everyone thinks you’re crazy.
We want to know everything up front. I’m fairly sure I’m the world’s actual worst about this. I’m a work in progress. Knowing what’s up ahead gives us the illusion that we’re in control. That we’ve got things figured out. That we’re prepared. That we don’t have to change. That we can figure out the way to go or how to do things and settle in for the long haul. But life comes with fog.
Friend take your steps of faith into the unknown. It’s okay to walk into the fog. Get so close that your eyelashes get wet. This kind of faith is more valuable than gold, according to 1 Peter. You will please God, and He will show you the way when you get there.
