A Step at a Time

Trusting God in the Dark

“But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
(Romans 8:24-25)

Rachel Cruze (Dave Ramsey’s daughter) often talks about “dream dates” she and her husband take once a year. She doesn’t mean trips to the Bahamas or romantic hot air balloon rides. She and her husband simply go out to dinner and dream about the future together—what they hope to do and see, visions they have for their family, ways they’d both like to grow.

Upon her recommendation, Rich and I attempted to do this, and I found it quite difficult! Maybe because ‘envisioning the future’ requires a bit of risk taking and I prefer ‘guarantees’ or maybe because the past just seems easier to discuss. It’s hard to dream when there are so many ‘what ifs’ and expected roadblocks. Taking risks involves failing and I don’t like to fail. Reminiscing, however, excludes risk. Nothing is ‘unknown’ anymore. The choices have already been made (for better or worse). From this vantage point, we can see the hand of God in all the twists and turns and know ‘how it all turns out.’
For those who flourish in change, this might seem boring, but for me, it feels ‘safe.’ Nothing feels quite as scary to me as the murky unknown.

But God often calls us into the unknown. And He beckons us to trust Him through the dark.

In faith we believe what God says is true—about how He made the world in the past, about the future when Christ returns, and everything in between. When we accept God’s vision for things yet to come, there are no risks of failure. For as He declares through His prophet, Isaiah, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.” (Isaiah 14:24)

The writer of Hebrews explains that faith “is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1) In Second Corinthians, Paul speaks to walking by faith and reminds us that all we see in this world is temporary, so we are exhorted to cling to what we do not see because it is eternal. (See 2 Cor 4)

But how do we apply faith in the everyday struggles? How can God’s promises of a restoration yet to come help my anxious mother’s heart today?

I’ve been wrestling with fear over the futures of my two younger sons. Anxiety over the unknown threatens to drag me down into a pool of darkness. Their mental health challenges are so great at times I wonder if they will ever experience true flourishing. I feel an immense burden to help them and have cried many tears and prayed many prayers for aid. I told my husband just last week, “If I could just see how it all turns out, I would feel so much better.” But that is not how God works. He shows us one step at a time and extends a hand to help us climb it.

I trust God’s wisdom in this, for I imagine that if He did show me the entire staircase with all its twists and turns, disappointments and setbacks, I would be overwhelmed and unable to advance at all.

And isn’t this the story of all God’s people? No one in Scripture saw the whole picture but were shown instead a step at a time and in faith trusted the Lord with the parts unknown.

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country… For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Heb 11:8-10)

Abraham was promised to be a ‘Father of many—descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky’ and he lived in faith to the day of his death. Yet he “did not receive the things promised; [he] only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.” (Heb 11:13)

The writer of Hebrews recounted many other ‘heroes of the faith’ like Noah and Moses and Daniel and says of them: “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.” (Heb 11:39) And what were they promised? The Messiah, who Himself is the promised ‘Resurrection and Life.” (see John 11:25)

They were each shown only a step, then they themselves became part of the larger staircase leading to Christ.

These men lived their lives day-to-day while setting an eye on the promised future. God’s enduring word is an anchor when we, like they, face the blank pages of each new day.

When I survey my own life, and the lives of my children, I see the steps God led us to—one by one. I see the patient and gifted teachers. I see the insightful doctors. I see the faithful church body. I see the praying family and friends. I see the compassionate therapists. I see the myriad ways God used His word through study, sermons, and music to speak and minister to my heart. All working together a piece at a time guiding me, leading me, shaping me and ultimately pointing me to my Savior.

The truth is I don’t know how we’ll get there; I can’t see past the current step, but I do know Who is waiting at the top of the staircase for me. And He will make sure I reach Him. Sometimes all we can do is “sow seeds in tears.” But when we plant in faith all that He gives us, one day we will “reap with songs of joy.” (Psalm 126)

Each day I hear His gentle whisper— ‘Do you trust Me?’

Reaching for His hand, I take the next step.
‘I do, Jesus. I do.’

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