The title of this post is a direct quote from Sharon Hersh's The Last Addiction. What a great book!
Hope starts walking without being sure of where we're going is a commentary to freedom. We need it.
One of the things I notice about us as trying to be believing people is that we are afraid of faith. It is willing to take us into the wonderful and weird places; yet we seem resistant because such might force me to step away from the controls.
Referencing the lame man who kept returning to the healing pool in Bethesda, Ms. Hersh stated earlier in her book, There is only one Source of hope, and that is Jesus. What makes this sign of healing so hard to find is that we can't control it. Jesus doesn't use conventional methods. He does one thing for one person and doesn't do it for us. He shows up after thirty-eight years. That's why we so often return to the last addiction. It seems safer and more predictable to take matters into our own hands.
I propose that my life can be divided between the unique acts of God in my walk compared to some significant moves of faith which I personally tried to manipulate into existence. I hunger for the former while learning the latter is both shallow with temporary fruit.
Hope starts walking without being sure of where we're going.
Do we not tend to only begin a work for God if we can guestimate beginning, middle, and end? And do we not also believe in general that beginning something without knowing where it is going is poor planning and failed leadership? Of course we do.
Yet Bible story after Bible story has common people being used by God for His glory without explanation as to how this is going to work out. Abraham and Sarah being childless would be one. Abraham went out not knowing where he was going (Hebr. 11:8) is another. And then the willingness to stab his son to death is yet another.
God calls us to walk in mystery. Mystery does not possess calculation nor equation of success rate. I believe we are a fearful people of the mystery of faith because "if" we are going to go anywhere in the kingdom, we want to know where we are going.
Thus the basic glory of going never happens because the believer(s) would prefer to play it safe by being in control. This is costing the kingdom of God. We must possess a hope that starts walking without being sure of where it we're going.
The amazing works among and around us are verification. Those who walk forward without guarantee of where efforts will lead are those who give testimonies that thrill our hearts.
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