What If It’s Not Faith?
Sometimes we think we’re trusting God, when we’re actually trusting Him to give us the outcome we want.
Trust God for the Best, Plan for the Worst
Maybe this is just a business lesson, but I also feel it’s applicable to our Christian walk.
I often see videos on social media talking about business: “Just do this and you’ll earn tons of money.”
While I’m not saying that isn’t true, after nearly 30 years of starting and running businesses, the thing I’ve learned that’s probably the most important is this:
Expect the best, but plan for the worst.
In other words, one of the most important things you can do is protect the downside. Understand what could happen if things go wrong and ask yourself whether you can not only survive through it, but make sure the downside doesn’t sink you financially.
Analysing risk is by far one of the biggest skills you can ever learn in business.
I’ve often chatted to people who are really excited about what they’re going to achieve.
And then you ask, “Okay, but what if something goes differently to the way you expect?”
What if you run out of money?
What if the competition is stronger than you thought?
What if the plan takes twice as long as you expected?
And quite often, the response is, “That will never happen.”
I know because I used to be that person.
The eternal optimist.
What could go wrong? I’ve got this under control.
While I’m still an optimist, and I always feel there is a way around every problem, not planning for problems to occur makes your life ten times harder when life doesn’t go the way you hoped or prayed for.
And this is where I think the same principle applies to our Christian walk.
Faith does not mean pretending nothing can go wrong.
Faith means seeing reality clearly and still trusting God.
The Bible says:
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?"
Luke 14:28 NIV
Notice it didn’t say, “Don’t build the tower until you have all the money.”
That isn’t what I’m saying at all.
When God asks you to take a step of faith, you may not have the money. You may not have the resources. Everything may not be perfectly in place.
That is often exactly where faith begins.
But you still need to know what the tower is going to cost.
You need to know what you are trusting God for.
Years ago, our church stepped out in faith to build a 5,000-seater auditorium. We didn’t have the money to build it.
But plans were drawn up. Architects, engineers and surveyors were involved. The cost was calculated.
We knew what the building would require, even though we didn’t yet have the resources to do it.
That is the distinction I’m talking about.
Faith doesn’t require you to already have everything you need.
But wisdom says you should understand what you are stepping into.
That is what counting the cost looks like.
Having faith that God will move is not burying your head in the sand and hoping God will move.
Hebrews 11 says:
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
But how can we be sure of something if we don’t know what it is we are trusting God for?
In this context, it means knowing the facts. What can go right? What can go wrong? What will this require?
Then you trust God.
There is also a difference between faith and presumption.
Faith trusts God.
Presumption decides how God has to answer.
Shipwrecks of faith can happen when we become convinced that God is going to answer a certain prayer in a certain way, and then when He doesn’t, our faith takes the blow.
We thought we were trusting God, but sometimes we were actually trusting an outcome.
That is an important distinction.
Now don’t hear what I’m not saying.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t trust God wholeheartedly. I’m not saying God is not able to do the impossible or immeasurably more than we may ask or think.
He absolutely does, and He absolutely can.
What I’m talking about is counting the cost initially so that we fully understand what this step of faith means.
This isn’t doubt.
This is wisdom.
It’s understanding the cost of the tower before you build it.
Then, when it’s built, you know what to trust God for. And if it doesn’t get built the way you thought it would, you still know how to trust God through that outcome.
There is a mix between the practical and the spiritual when it comes to trusting God.
What I’ve learned over the years is this:
The hard part isn’t always hearing what the Lord wants you to do. The hard part is applying it practically.
That’s where faith can unravel.
We interpret a word from God through the season we are in and through the lens of the life we currently see.
This isn’t a criticism.
I’ve lived in this tension for years, and I still do.
I know what God wants me to do. That part can be clear.
The wisdom I need is understanding how that practically outworks in my everyday life.
And the secret I’ve learned is this.
1. Remain Flexible and Adaptable
Things seldom go perfectly as you’ve predicted them in your head.
As Psalm 119 says:
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
It’s a lamp unto our feet.
It’s not a neighbourhood street-light system.
God will often show us the next step, not the next 1,000 steps.
He also sometimes leads us into something because the door into something else opens through that initial leading.
So remain flexible.
Remain adaptable.
Trust the One who is leading you, even when the route doesn’t look exactly the way you imagined it would.
2. Count the Cost Honestly
Understand what this step of faith means practically, financially and emotionally.
What is the emotional, physical and financial cost this will take on you if things go right?
And what are the costs if it doesn’t?
Do you believe you can cope with both?
If not, what can you do to strengthen your faith before you take the step?
In other words, yes, take the step of faith and walk on the water.
Trust God with everything.
Live surrendered and abandoned to Him.
But also know what to do if you wobble.
Do you have the faith for Jesus to pick you up when you’re drowning?
Or do you have the faith that He will help you swim to safety?
Neither is wrong.
Both are faith.
But we need to be honest with ourselves and honest about where we are in our walk with God.
If the worst happens, how will I respond?
What does trusting God look like then?
Trust me, this isn’t a post about not taking steps of faith.
It isn’t about holding back until everything is safe, predictable and perfectly in place.
This is a post from nearly three decades of taking huge leaps of faith, trusting God for the impossible and seeing miracles happen.
Yes, we walk by faith and not by sight.
But that doesn’t mean we bury our heads in the sand and hope everything will be all right.
Faith is seeing what God sees.
It’s seeing the obstacles clearly and still knowing God can overcome them.
It’s knowing what something may cost and still being willing to obey.
It’s seeing what it might look like if things don’t go your way and still knowing how to trust God through it.
That’s what maturity looks like.
And that’s what helps stop our faith from becoming shipwrecked.
If we’ve already counted the cost beforehand, then we’ve already considered what trusting God may look like through every outcome.
So expect the best.
Plan for the worst.
Take huge steps of faith.
Trust God for the impossible.
Because mature faith doesn’t pretend the storm cannot come.
It knows who to trust if it does.
Stay blessed.
Byron
PS: Scriptures you can look at that will help you with this.
Luke 14:28,
Hebrews 11:1,
Ephesians 3:20,
Psalm 119:105,
Matthew 14:28-31,
2 Corinthians 5:7.