There’s a show on SyFy Channel called Total Blackout. If you haven’t seen it, Jaleel White hosts it. You remember Jaleel, right? Steve Erkle with the high waters and suspenders from Family Matters? Yeah, him. Anyway, the point of the show is that the contestants walk into a pitch black room – no lights at all – and touch things or walk through things. And they always assume the worst. If doesn’t matter how harmless it is, they’re always scared it’s going to be snakes or spiders. One guy, while identifying a sheep, touched it and yelled out “it’s a snake!” But one of the tasks is to walk through three different containers. And in the dark, they can’t see what it is. But Jaleel will tell them that they’re walking on broken glass – it’s really potato chips. Then he’ll tell them that they’re walking on hot coals – it’s really baked rolls. But they have to overcome the fear of what they think they know and get to through the three containers.
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, he had to take the step over the huge canyon as his third task. He comes out of the small door, and sees nothing but the deep ravine in front of him. He pulls out his Dora the Explorer book of clues, and reads that this test is to follow “The Path of God…Only in the leap from the lion's head will he prove his worth”. And he knows that noboby can jump from one side to the other, so he places his hand over his heart like he’s saying the Pledge of Allegiance and steps out into the nothing. Except that it’s not nothing. There’s a bridge that he can’t see when he’s looking out of the little hole he’s just climbed through – but magically the audience can see it when the camera pans off to the side. But the point is to take the step, even when it looks impossible.
Abraham was told to pack up and leave. Gideon was told to go lead Israel. Noah was told to go build an ark – and I imagine Bill Cosby wasn’t far when he joked that Noah’s response was, “Right…what’s an ark?” When God calls, do you trust Him enough to take that step? We like solid ground. We like knowing the answers before we take test. Before we upgrade our cellphone plans, we’ll compare companies and check the budget. Because we don’t want any surprises. Back when I was little, they had these “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. You could decide whether to open the door where you heard the scream (turn to page 37) or to turn quietly and walk the other way (turn to page 94). I loved those books…but, man I did a lot of “what if” reading!! “OK, let’s put my finger here where I’m at and turn to page 37 and open the door to see what happens. OH!! A big hairy monster jumped out from behind the door and ate everything but my sneakers. I’m dead! Not a big fan of being dead, so let’s go back to my jump page and pick page 94 instead to see what happens when I DON’T open the door.”
But life doesn’t work that way. You can’t just put your finger where you are and test the waters on page 37. Because in real life, when you turn to page 37 then it’s done. The cat’s out of the bag. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. The horses are already out of the barn. And you’re there to deal with a decision you’ve made. And if we won’t switch from Cable to Satellite without a 2 week inner debate to make sure we’ve covered all possible outcomes, how much more unwilling are we to take that step of faith to walk the road that God calls us to walk? The road where we don’t even know where we’re going. God called people to go to China and preach the gospel. “What happens if things go wrong?” Thanks for trusting God. People are called to Africa. “What happens if things go wrong?” Thanks for trusting God. People are called to go to the rainforest like I mentioned in a previous devotional. And what happened? Things went tragically wrong. For them. But look at all the people saved since then. The problem comes when we put our own comforts and more to the point, our own discomforts ahead of spreading the gospel. Some people are called to spread the gospel allll the way, not to China, not to Africa, not to a rainforest in South America, but allll the way to the “bad side of town”. And how many of us (my own hand raised) have never been to help them?
If you look at the great men of the Bible, they weren’t perfect men. They weren’t even great listeners. Sure Noah built an Ark, and Abraham packed up and left. But what about Jonah? God called, and he ran the other way. Or even looking at David? God called the shepherd boy, and he answered. Ready, willing and confident in God to deliver him. And what did he get? Brothers laughing at him and trying to send him home. King Saul telling him that he was “just a boy” then saying that David at LEAST needed to put on the king’s own armor. And what did David do? He said that God had delivered him so far, he would deliver him now (1 Samuel 17:37). So Listen for the Whisper that tells you that God has delivered you so far, why would He stop now? If Jesus came to die for you on a cross, why would you doubt Him when he asks you to take that step? Don’t put your own comforts before your submission to God. As a Christian, nothing we do should ever be more important than submitting our will to His. And the part we don’t like is taking a sentence like that, and adding the caveat “even if it’s the last thing we do.” Total submission, even if it’s the last thing we do.
~Dwayne
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