Trusting God is a practiced skill.
It’s like the high-dive board at the pool. We jump off the side of the pool at first, maybe six inches. That seems easy enough, but for a beginner, it can be very frightening.
Then there’s the low board. Our heart pounds, we’re not sure how to bounce correctly, and what if we hit our head on the way in?
It grows easier, and slowly we work our way to the tallest platform. We look over the edge, our stomach flips, and we try not to look frightened or dizzy.
We are, though.
Then we remember standing at the pool’s edge, and we imagine jumping off the low board … and we feel our confidence return.
That’s how we learn to trust in God.
Matthew 8:2-3 tells the story of the leper who came to Jesus.
“And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.’ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”
We don’t have recorded the leper at the side of the pool. Perhaps he heard the story of someone healed, and his faith was pricked.
He may have seen the crowds gathering to celebrate the Master, and he imagined himself on the low board, wondering if his germinating faith would betray him.
Then he worked his way closer to Jesus, looked on as the miracles of the Lord swirled about him, and he tried not to let the crowd see his fear of failure.
Then, in a surge of confidence, the leper knelt before Jesus and asked, “Lord, if you will.”
The leper took a giant leap of faith, and he received what he asked for of Jesus. That’s what God wants from us. When we practice our faith in the little things, we’ll be able to step out boldly in the big ones.
Faith flows from God, but the first step comes from us.
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Code: FGO.H.17.19a.vp.esv