Have you ever heard that phrase, "Put God in the driver seat of your car?" It's made sense to me. Let God have control. I'm not sure that's the best picture though.
My house sits on a busy street. We often have a lot of cars in our driveway, parked in every crevice leaving very little concrete visible. The other day I needed to get out but was sandwiched between a few cars leaving what felt like only inches to maneuver in. My friend stood outside my car guiding me out. The process was rather tedious as I'd move a few inches in one direction to then be able to move a few more inches another direction. So I sat in my car as my friend directed me to turn my wheels a little more to the right or left and back up then go forward. The process was slow, but mostly because each time he told me to drive I'd looked at what I could see and said, "I feel like I'm going to hit the car," and then slowly followed the directions he was giving me. As I very slowly progressed out of my parking spot my friend looked at me and said with a bit of exasperation, "Do you trust me?" What a silly question I thought as I answered, "Yes..sigh" and thought, "that's why I'm still driving like you say." In retrospect, I trusted, but the level of my trust compared to what my brain said the situation was, caused me to drive very slowly and hesitantly. I never hit one of the other cars and as I drove off I began to think about the situation. My friend had a different perspective than I did. I could not see what he was seeing. What I could see was that it looked a lot like I was going to hit a car. I could not see the reality he saw. Hmmm a bit like me and God I do believe.
God gives me the authority of my life, but tells me that it will be best for Him and for me if I follow His directions. I was the one driving the car. I had the power to move it, but I needed my friend to tell me how to get out of my parking space and then I had to trust his directions. God knows the beginning from the end. He knows every detail of every circumstance. He can give me much better directions than the ones I can come up with from my perspective.
The Bible talks about us going from glory to glory. God gives us revelations about one thing. We start to catch on to something about Him and then He begins to show us something new. So where I am at is a place where God is saying I have things for you to do, but right now you need to trust and act upon the little things I'm telling you. I could have just decided to sit in my parking spot, but I wouldn't have been able to go anywhere. I would have been safe, and no car would have been dented, but that would have been dumb considering there was somewhere for me to go, and someone who could get me out so I could go there, I just had to trust.
Maybe that's where you're at. I've been there. You look around and say, it's too big of a risk, from my perspective it doesn't look safe. I'll just stay here in this safe spot. Maybe you tried to start to get out, but gave up when it seemed impossible. But it just so happens that God has places for you to go and if you will trust in what He sees, you will be safely taken out of your "safe" spot and made available for the new things God has for you.
Or maybe you are waiting for someone else to move their car when in reality they don't need to. What you see tells you that things are not in place for you to do that thing God has told you about. When in God's reality, from His perspective, everything is in place for you to do what He's asking. You are just waiting for your seen reality to match up and wasting your time waiting for the right time that is actually already there.
Will we move when God says, trust that He sees what we don't, and take what feels like a risk and begin to move according to His direction? It's one thing to say, "Here God, you drive." and a totally different one to listen when He says, "Ok let's go, everything is ready, just trust my directions."
Faith is believing what is unseen. If you can see it, it doesn't require faith. But faith is not foolish or blind because you're faith is not to reside in a circumstance or outcome, it is to reside in God, the faithful one.
I sure do appreciate how patient God is though. There are times when I sit in the car and keep asking, "Are you sure God? Are you sure I won't hit the other car? Are you sure I'm safe?" And He keeps reassuring me. Then when I begin to follow His directions and drive, I drive hesitantly and slowly, reminding Him, "this looks crazy God, but I'm going to do it." He's incredibly patient, but how much more effective would I be, and how much more quickly could I reach a destination if I'd trust and drive with confidence.
God is great. I just needed to get out of my driveway, and God totally took my experience and said, "Now let's learn a little something about trust. Daughter, do you trust me? We've got some things to do, let's get a move on."
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