Last week I asked, “Why do so many of us settle for small faith and small dreams?”
But then I also think of
those with large faith and large dreams:
All these years later, I
still marvel
at the gutsy, plucky
faith of Uncle Cam
and my new Lomalinda
colleagues—
people who, because of
that faith,
dreamed bold, daring,
dreams.
People who prayed,
honorable,
principled, confident
prayers.
I also shared with you Lloyd John Ogilvie’s words that so aptly describe Uncle Cam and those who
settled in that remote mission compound, Lomalinda. Ogilvie said of such people
that Christ “uses [their] imagination to show us what we would not
have thought of or worked out for ourselves. . . .
“This
requires persistence. . . . It means asking, seeking, knocking [Luke 11:9-10] .
. . three steps in using imagination in cooperation with Christ. . . .”
Ogilvie continues:
“Some Christians
think of solutions we would not have considered.
They have persisted
patiently in prayer.
Some are amazingly
creative in what they think and say.
Long prayer vigils
and complete trust are the reason.
They are like an
inventor who waits for, searches,
tests until the
great ‘Ah-ha!’ comes.
“[They] do not
give up.”
Here are some thoughts:
Sometimes we get
derailed, maybe by tragedy, or by heartache, or illness—or even boredom. Many
years ago, A.B. Simpson wrote of those of us whose “faith grows tired, languid,
and relaxed,” whose “prayers lose their force and effectiveness.”
He wrote of those
of us who “become discouraged and so timid that a little obstacle depresses and
frightens us, and we are tempted to walk around it, and not face it: to take
the easier way.”
Even though God
and His promises stand ready to help, we wimp out: we complain about the hard
work involved in praying—and then waiting for God to answer! And trusting Him!
Instead, maybe we take
things into our own hands and try to force events or answers to happen the way
we want.
Or we look to
other humans and human remedies. As Simpson said, we “walk around some other
way.”
“There are many
ways of walking around . . . instead of going straight through. . . . How often
we come up against something . . . and want to evade the issue with the excuse:
‘I’m not quite ready for that now.’ Some sacrifice is to be made, some obedience
demanded, some Jericho to be taken . . . and we are walking around it” (A.B. Simpson, quoted in Streams in the Desert).
In other words, we
bury our heads in the sand. We allow—we even welcome—distractions that lure us
away from doing the hard work of waiting on God.
Simpson challenges
us to put into practice Hebrews 12:12-13: “You have become weak, so make
yourselves strong again. Keep on the right path" (NCV).
Or, as the Living
Bible words it: “Take a new grip with your tired hands, stand firm on your
shaky legs, and mark out a straight, smooth path for your feet. . . .” (See
also Isaiah 35:3).
That means we’re
to refuse to be weaklings, cowards, those who give up too easily— (that’s often
a hard one for me). Instead, we are to be disciplined, persevering, tenacious
people—both spiritually and in practical, everyday life.
We are inspired to
be that kind of people when we
hang out with those
like Uncle Cam
and my Lomalinda
neighbors and colleagues.
We are mentored
into becoming that kind of people
when we watch them
live their faith in action on a daily basis
and over the
decades.
What a privilege
God gave us when He sent us to work alongside such spiritual giants!
Come back next
week
for more thoughts
on
why so many of us
settle for small faith
and small dreams.
