Our Crazy Heat Wave

We just came out of a heat wave here in the Philadelphia area. The temperatures have been soaring, and so has the humidity. A few days ago, I was driving and looked down to see the dashboard said the temperature was 100 degrees. A glance at my phone showed the heat index was above 107. Basically, it was hot! It’s the kind of heat and humidity that you just walk outside and instantly get soaked.

And then this morning, I opened the door to take out the trash and was shocked to feel a cool breeze. The heat had broken and so had the humidity. I opened the front door, the back door, and all the windows. I can’t keep the smile off my face because it’s the first hint of fall coming.

Getting a Break

Sometimes life is like that. It’s so hard and heavy, and it feels like you’re just never going to get a break. Then one morning, you wake up and realize that your heart is lighter. The worst has passed, or has begun to pass. You begin to feel hope for the first time in a very long time.

You look up and feel God’s presence, his goodness for the first time in a long time. He’s been there all along, but you just awakened anew to his presence.

Walking on the Water and Our Faith

I think that’s similar to how Peter felt in his famous story of walking on the water. He went through the process in a few seconds of what we go through for weeks and months at a time.

Peter’s Eight-Step Process of Walking on Water Compared to the Faith Process

1. Peter got excited about the possibilities—walking on the water. How could you not? Similarly, we get excited about what God has for us.
2. We trust God and step out in faith, and it feels really good…for a little bit.
3. Then reality hits. The waves come and threaten to wipe you out. All you can see is the storm and the huge waves.
4. Our trust wavers, and we falter. We question God and question why we even stepped out in the first place.
5. Instead of reaching out to the one who can save us, we look at everything around us, trying to work it out by ourselves.
6. Finally, at the end of ourself, we look up and ask Jesus for help. Jesus reaches out and pulls us back up.
7. We stand on solid ground again and look around, surprised that God got us through it.
8. Then Jesus asks, “Why did you doubt me?” Read Jesus’ response to Peter.

Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

Matthew 14: 31

The Process of Faith

The process of faith is pretty comparable to the process of walking on water that Peter did. I don’t know which number in the progression you’re in today, but the fact of the matter is that you are in one of those phases, or you’re getting ready to go back into that process. That’s just how life is, how God works. I’ve seen it over and over and over again.

We could speed the entire process up if we skipped the not having faith part, not trusting God to get us through. If we just went right from stepping out to do something great for God to asking Jesus for his help and trusting him to get us through it, we could save ourselves some heartbreak. Maybe a lot of heartbreak. Sadly, it’s just not the way most of us process things. We usually skip right to the stage where reality hits, and we begin to question God’s goodness and faithfulness.

What if we didn’t? What if when the hard times come, we didn’t waste energy on doubt and fear, on doubting God’s goodness and faithfulness; and we didn’t spend time questioning our faith? Maybe we could get through the process in half the time. Maybe God could trust us with more. More blessing, more opportunities, more relationships…just more.

Commit to Skipping Right to the Faith Step

For as many years as I have been a Christian, for as many trials and hard times God has gotten me through, my default when hard times come is to doubt. I doubt God’s goodness, I feel like he’s forgotten me, and I’m convinced that this will be the one time that everything comes crashing down around me.

Let’s commit to choosing to skip those steps in the middle. Let’s just skip right to the part where we call on Jesus and trust him to get us through. We will save ourselves a lot of heartache in the middle. I am committing to do the same.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check out my post Developing a Faith that’s Strong Enough to Stand On, or check out my book, The Hidden Pain: When You Fear God is No Longer Blessing Your Life.