Monday, January 22, 2007

And Step By Step

Psalm 25
“My head is high, God, held high. I’m looking to You, God; No hangdog skulking for me. I’ve thrown in my lot with You; You won’t embarrass me, will You? Or let my enemies get the best of me? Don’t embarrass any of us , who went out on a limb for You. It’s the traitors who should be humiliated. Show me how You work, God; school me in Your ways. Take me by the hand; lead me down the path of truth. You are my Savior, aren’t You? Mark the milestones of Your mercy and love, God; rebuild the ancient landmarks! Forget that I sowed wild oats; mark me with Your sign of love. Plan only the best for me, God! God is fair and just; He corrects the misdirected, sends them in the right direction. He gives the rejects His hand, and leads them step by step.” (The Message)

Every year, for several years, I would take a group of youth on a weekend retreat to a camp. We'd do the fun stuff--campfires, singing, playing games...you know, camp stuff. But we'd also do some group-building stuff. We took this retreat at the beginning of the year, rather than at the end. This group of teenagers would be spending time together each week throughout the year, learning more about God, each other, their faith, and whether or not they have any.

We would be dealing with each others' feelings and beliefs. These are very touchy subjects. Very vulnerable. And to get to a place where the sharing of such things becomes real and honest, one thing must be present: trust.

I knew each year, that if these kids would trust each other, then God would do some awesome works in their lives! And so we started the year with a retreat with just that goal in mind. We'd start with a lot of fun stuff. But then we'd move them closer to each other, starting to share some heart stuff. That was Friday night.

Saturday morning would bring us to the place where trust would really begin to take shape. I'd take them out to a high-ropes adventure course. We didn't really do much of that--a lot of them were really afraid of heights--but we'd do a lot of team-building exercises. We would end our time there doing something called the flying squirrel. Each person would strap into a climbing harness and then clip themselves to a rope which was suspended from a pulley about forty feet up in the air. The rope passed through the pulley and back down to the ground. Once the person clipped onto the rope, the rest of their team would grab the rope and then hoist them up to the top...forty feet up in the air! The "flyer" had the choice of how high and how fast they wanted to go. And they would have to trust the team to only go as fast and as high as they wanted. It was a lot of fun. And most kids would eventually end up going all the way to the top and as fast as their teammates could pull them.

This was the beginning of some real trust. After leaving there, we'd head back to the camp for lunch and some more fun. That night, we'd have a campfire. At one point in the campfire, we would pair everyone up with someone they didn't really know that well. We would then have one person in each pair blindfold the other so there was one sighted person and one "blind" person. We would then explain to them that this is a Trust Walk. One person had to trust the other to lead them safely through the woods. The sighted person was allowed to guide the blind person. The one catch is they had to do so without talking. They would have to guide each other in even the smallest of steps. They would have to guide them over logs, under branches, on ledges, through the woods, and eventually to the middle of the forest where they would switch roles. We would eventually end up back around the campfire where we would have Communion.

After this was done, all of the adult chaperones would place their lives into the hands of these teenagers, allowing themselves to blindfolded and led through the woods in the very same way they just did for each other.

Trust.

We had to trust them with our safety. We had to trust them not to take off and leave us. We had to trust them to lead us step by step. Not an easy thing to do. We knew these kids. We knew the errors of their ways. We knew which kids had sown "wild oats" and we hadn't forgotten like David asks God to do in the Psalm for today. We knew this...and yet, how could we expect them to trust each other, if they couldn't even count on being trusted by us? I have to tell you, it was scary at times. There were moments when even I would say nervously, "You're not going to hurt me, are you?" The response would be silence. They weren't allowed to speak...and they took that a little more seriously when they were leading us around. Sometimes, I'd try to take control and feel my own way, and I would often stumble. There were times when I wished that I wasn't being so trusting. Because they led us through some pretty rough places.

It's interesting though, the rougher the places they led us through, the more they trusted us. They knew that if they could go to some of these rough places and we would stick with them, then they could trust us and open up to us.

What are some of the rough places you've taken God? Have you nervously asked God, "You're not going to hurt me, are You? You're not going to just leave me hangin' out here? 'Cause it's scary...and well, I'm not sure I can let go and trust You. How do I know I can trust You?"

And the response we so often receive is silence. We are blind and deaf. And yet, we are called to trust. In these moments, God seems so far away. It's so hard to hear His voice. And yet, we know God is there. But there is a difference between knowing and trusting.

Sometimes God whispers to us, but we're unable to hear His voice over the din of our lives. And other times, God is quiet because He's asking for our trust. We're unable to hear Him. We're unable to see Him. Talk about a Trust Walk. We must rely on God for even the smallest of steps. But I suppose that's the point, huh?

Duh. It's easy to have knowledge that God is there. But it's a little tougher to rely on God for our baby steps. Why that'd mean we'd have to acknowledge that we're not in control!

There's a song we often sing around these campfires. It's called Step By Step. It goes like this:

"O God, You are my God.
And I will ever praise You.
O God, You are my God.
And I will ever praise You.
I will seek You in the morning.
And I will learn to walk in Your ways.
And step by step You lead me,
And I will follow You all of my days." (by Beaker)

Make this your prayer today. Ask for God to lead you even in your baby steps. God desires our trust and not just our knowledge. Knowledge of a net being there to catch you is a lot different than trusting it to do so. Let go. Surrender to God's leading. Stop trying to find your own way, stumbling about in blind folly. Stop. Breathe. Listen. Feel. If you listen carefully, you just may hear God's whisper. And then again, you may not. You may not see or hear a thing. But God is there. You know that. Now trust it. Trust Him to lead you every step of the way.

We are the very rejects David is talking about in the last lines of the Psalm. And God is offering us His hand to lead us...step by step.

Be WILD For Christ!

Pastor Shane Burton

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