Sometimes when we beg the Lord for confirmation or a sign, what we’re really saying is that:
- We don’t want to walk by faith- we want to walk by sight.
- We don’t find His direction in Scripture enough.
- We don’t take Him at His Word that He’ll always be with us.
God’s leading often asks us to ‘go’ without us knowing the where. Or to follow with hope instead of with certainty.
God’s leading often asks us to 'go' without us knowing the where. Or to follow with hope instead of with certainty. @BethanyMcIlrath Click To TweetHis confirmation often comes after our faith has grown.
“God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.’” –Exodus 3:12
Just think…
Moses was standing in front of a burning bush, hearing the voice of God. He wasn’t entirely sure this was God. He had good reason to think that the people he was being sent to wouldn’t believe him. God was sending him back to a land he fled from because he was going to be killed there.
Moses would be returning to slavery to speak to oppressed, worn people who his relationship with was complicated at best. He was to tell all these people that God Himself had sent him, that generations of oppression were about to end with no warning, and that they were going to leave the mud pits triumphant and enter a glorious promised land they would call their own.
God was asking him to follow by faith, not by sight.
The sign? The confirmation?
It was going to come after all the crazy stuff. “When” Moses had obeyed, “when” the people were already freed, and “when” what seemed impossible was accomplished…that was “when” Moses would have it confirmed that it was indeed God who sent him in the first place!
Would Moses have even doubted by then?
God would be with Him. There would come a day after walking through very treacherous times by faith that Moses would return to the mountain where God first spoke to Him.
And THEN Moses would know what He needed to know most…
God was the One who sent Him. God, who said He would be with him, would have been beside Him all that time.
So it goes for us.
We walk by faith. We obey what His Word already says, even when we want more explanations and directions. We believe God that He is with us.
We trust that someday, we’ll turn around and recognize what is then behind us is one big, brilliant sign: God sent us, and He has been with us all the time.
Let’s walk by faith as Moses did, for:
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” –Hebrews 11:1
{A version of this post was previously published here}
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I tend to want to know what’s ahead, what’s expected of me, what to do next. I want the way laid out, the plans made. But that’s not walking by faith. He has all the plans made, but He might reveal them to us only step by step. What a waste of time and energy it is to fret. May I follow in faith.
Worry adds nothing to our lives! So grateful we can trust Him as we follow step by step.
Bethany, I’ve thought that was an interesting sign too. I think it was also a promise Moses could hold on to during the long debate with Pharaoh. God would win the battle, and Moses would return to the mountain with his people and worship God. He’s giving us promises to cling to by faith also. Great thoughts. Thank you.
That’s a great perspective, Debbie, thanks! His promises certainly help when it’s hard to keep going!
Loved this perspective, Bethany. I have always felt asking for a sign from God showed a lack of faith, or a resistant spirit. So many times I have seen exactly what you illustrate, the confirmation comes after my steps of faith. Thank you for this reminder!
Thanks, Donna! Having to walk by faith certainly grows our trust in God!
Certainty wants to be an idol in my prone to wander heart. Thanks for calling me out!
Mine too, Michele!
I have found that going by the Trust-and-Obey philosophy serves me better than Show-Me-a-Sign. I’m not saying that God doesn’t send me “signs” sometimes, but I’ve learned not to ask for them. The only exception is when we are fasting & praying over a specific urgent decision that we need to make
I’m so grateful God does strengthen our faith and lead us in a variety of ways!
❤️
Oh, Bethany… God is so good. He used your post this morning to speak to my heart, propelling me forward on a journey that is filled with question marks, but which I know is His direction for my ministry. So grateful for your post today and especially thankful for you, Karen and Debbie – for your partnership with me writing for Recharge Wednesday.
This part was especially inspired to me:
“The sign? The confirmation?
It was going to come after all the crazy stuff. “When” Moses had obeyed, “when” the people were already freed, and “when” what seemed impossible was accomplished…that was “when” Moses would have it confirmed that it was indeed God who sent him in the first place!”
So good!
Oh Patricia, I thank the Lord for Hos timing and His graciousness to use these words to encourage you. Keep walking by faith after Him, sister! I’m so glad to get to serve this way with you! Looking forward with you to the “when” when you will get to testify of seeing clearly that it was God leading you through particular decisions!
Wow, your first line brought clarity to something I’ve been asking the Lord about. Thank you so much for jarring me back to walking by faith , not by sight. Why is it we know something but when we read it or hear it just said the right way at the right time, we realize our error…
I’m so grateful God used the linkup today in this way for you! Praise Him! I have the same thing happen – knowing something but just needing to hear it or read it at a particular time. I guess that’s why the Bible is full of “remember” and “do not forget” – God knows we do, and is so gracious to remind us right when we need it!
Bethany, this is such fresh insight. Love this, “We walk by faith. We obey what His Word already says, even when we want more explanations and directions. We believe God that He is with us.”
This’ll preach, Bethany. Walking by faith and not sight seems to be a three-steps forward and two steps back adventure for me. Grateful for God’s patience and long suffering, for sure.