Deliberate Faith. Narrowing our Paths.

“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” - Oswald Chambers

Deliberately. God's plans are definite. We can walk deliberately in them. We need to do this to let Him reign in our lives.

2 Samuel 5:23-24
"When David inquired of the Lord, He said, 'You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees. It shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for then the Lord will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.'"

I really like this story because it's so ridiculously clear. God says don't go up directly. So don't. He says circle around. So do that. He says wait. So be patient. It's hard to apply such clarity to the types of lives we choose to lead today. There are just so many paths available to us. We can live exactly how we want to and get nothing that we actually need, but only if we live separate from Him. That way sucks. We're putting ourselves through pain. Doesn't that just seem weird when you think about it? Why are we so willing to suffer? To not rely on anything that's why; and most especially to not rely on God. We live in a world of instant gratification. We can talk to anyone whenever we want (we don't even have to actually talk to them - we can message or facebook them until we die - wow... apparently I'm dramatic today), we can watch anything, we can visit or move anywhere, we have the wonderful world wide web at our fingertips, and we're worse off for it. Don't get me wrong, I like technology (hi, I'm using it right now), but I don't like the overwhelming nature of it. Something went wrong. We need to narrow our paths.

There can be clarity in our lives, we just need to seek God for it. Especially in those moments where it feels like the world is coming down on us. To be honest, it is. The things of this world will always try to pull us down. That's why living daily for God is so important. We're in a battle for our salvation. We've taken it up, but we've got to protect it. We've got to fight for the salvation of future Christians. We do both of these things by walking in obedience. By walking deliberately. Those walks add up to faith. Faith is recognizing our need of Him. Faith is walking in God and knowing He will lead us to only and all good things. He knows more than us. We can't see the whole picture. Start in the little things and be built up in Christ. When we do this, then great things happen. Just like in this Bible story, God will send His army ahead of us. He will coordinate our lives; if we let Him. I want to rely on Him everyday. He is good.

His promise of victory revealed:

2 Samuel 5:25
"Then David did so, just as the Lord had commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer."

--> Obedience is difficult, but His plan always outweighs our desires and wants; in its depth, in its fullness, and in its love. The funniest part: later on, after coming through our trials and our struggles, we'll see the end and we'll see Him being there for us and we'll say 'Oh, so that's why I had to come through that, so that I could come to this'. Deeper faith levels are always worked for. So, work with Him and not against Him. It makes an indescribable difference.

Psalm 119:109
"My life constantly hangs in the balance, but I will not stop obeying your instructions."

Proverbs 16:9
"We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps."

Matthew 7:13
"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it."