Will You Go Out without Knowing?

"I cried out with no reply, and I can't feel you by my side. So I'll hold tight to what I know. You're here, and I'm never alone," from Never Alone by the Barlow Girls.

Faith

Hebrews 11 begins with these verses: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." The writer of Hebrews describes the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, and then in today's verse, Abraham: "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."

Abraham was setting out on a grand adventure. Forgive me, I don't mean to imply that it was easy. I know that he was a wealthy, established man with everything to lose and seemingly nothing to gain, and yet, wasn't that part of the grand adventure? How do I apply this principle of "going out" to my ordinary, every day life? Oswald writes: "Each morning you wake it is to be a 'going out,' building in confidence on God," and he quotes Jesus, "Take no thought for your life . . . nor yet for your body."

Today is January 2, 2010, a Saturday at the end of a two-week vacation from school for my children. The Christmas tree needs to be taken down, the ornaments put away, and the rest of the house is screaming for order to be re-established -- dishes, laundry, leftovers sorted. What does "going out" mean for a day like today? I want to live in "perpetual wonder" as Oswald describes. I want my life to have an "ineffable charm about it which is a satisfaction to Jesus." But how? There is no grand adventure here, no call to brave acts, no courage required.

At present, I have only this partial answer. I prefer a character-driven novel to a plot-driven one. Oswald writes: "Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is."

Help me, God, to go out in perpetual wonder in the midst of my household duties. Let my grand adventure be a discovery of who you are. And even when I can't feel you by my side, I'll hold tight to what I know: You're here, and I'm never alone.