Remember the leap of faith scene in INDIANA JONES: THE LAST CRUSADE? Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) finds himself facing a chasm no man could cross, time is running out, he checks his book of clues, and realizes what he is looking at.
“It’s a leap of faith,” he says to himself. John Williams’ violins swell.
“You must believe, boy,” says his ailing father played by Sean Connery, “you must … believe.”
Jones stares at the bottomless pit before him, weighing his options. Then slowly, finally, he takes that first step, seems to fall for just a second, and suddenly a previously invisible bridge appears and he walks across the chasm, safe—and in case we still have doubts, the music assures the skeptics among us that we have just seen Harrison Ford do something amazing: BE NOT UNBELIEVING, BUT BELIEVING.
People of faith have always loved this scene. What is a leap of faith? It’s stepping out into nothingness and finding it was not nothing, but something: a dramatic moment, a once-in-a-lifetime test, like Abraham, Isaac, the altar, the ram.
I don’t know about you, but my life rarely presents such difficult tests. Falling to my death is not an everyday risk.
What is far more common than a LEAP of faith is a POSTURE of faith. God has never asked me to step off the side of building or to step in front of a moving train. Once or twice He has asked me to do a difficult thing—to take a leap of faith. But what God asks me to do nearly every day involves not so much leaping as a slight cant of the head. A lean-in. It’s a posture. God is not asking me to step off the pinnacle of the temple, or turn stones to bread for that matter, but rather to bow just a little.
When I read the Bible and find a question I can’t answer, I have a posture that allows me to move forward with my faith intact. How? I give God the benefit of the doubt. I know that’s a ridiculous choice of words, as though I were sitting in judgment over the Lord of the universe. But isn’t that the sort of judgment in which we all engage every day? (When you realize people have spent their entire lives judging God, perhaps being judged by Him is not as unfair as some would argue—but that’s beside the point.)
The Bible is a huge collection: 66 books written over 1,500 years. This many years later it can’t possibly be an easy read. You will have questions. And faith often comes down to this: giving the scripture the benefit of the doubt. Give God the benefit of the doubt. When you have questions you cannot answer, or when none of the answers satisfy you, faith means choosing to trust God anyway. It is a posture of faith and peace rather than a posture of doubt and anger. Lean-in to God and submit to His sovereignty.
I love this expression:
DON’T DOUBT IN THE DARKNESS WHAT GOD TOLD YOU IN THE LIGHT.
Don’t let your doubts make you DOUBT-FUL.
You will face darkness. Choose faith in those little moments. Keep trusting that God has a plan.
Here is what God asks of me. Can I trust Him with unpaid bills? Can I trust Him with a new health problem? Can I trust Him with that challenge on the job? My response to these things is to take a posture that says Yes, I trust you. I don’t know how you will do it, but I trust you. There is no leaping involved—no leaping required. Instead, I bow a bit, if not physically, then emotionally. It is a cant of the head that says, There are two choices before me. But because I know God’s heart, I will side with Him. I give Him the benefit of the doubt. That is faith, for me. Decades in, that is what it comes down to: not a leap of faith, but a posture of faith. Perhaps it’s not so much a leap of faith as a lean of faith.
“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him” Psalm 34:8.
God is good; I trust Him. When life gives me doubts, when pastors or leaders create doubts, when Bible reading brings doubts, when a need or a lack or a fear brings me doubt, I give God the benefit of the doubt. He is good. He loves me. So I trust him.
For me, life has required a leap of faith maybe a handful of times—but a posture of faith has been essential every day.
Faith means giving God the benefit of the doubt.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 