Walking the path of faith can get us through life's fog

I so treasure the wonderful quotes from Corrie ten Boom.

She was a member of a family of Dutch watchmakers. As a Christian, she and her father and sisters helped hide many Jews in their home and helped them then escape from the throws of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II.

Her actions led her to being confined in a Nazi prison camp, where her sister died. Yet Corrie lived to walk out.

One of ten Boom’s best quotes is about seeing when one can’t really see; that is having the faith in God’s perspective when it is unknown to us.

She said “Faith is like radar that sees through the fog … the reality of things at a distance that the human eye cannot see.”

So many times we as Christians rely on sight thinking or our physical eyes and we miss the ways that God is working around us. A vast amount of difference exists between sight and vision.

Nothing illustrates this concept better than this: When I drive home after dark, I get in my car and start the engine. The lights automatically come on. I back out of my parking space and then look ahead at the parking lot in front of me. The headlights on my car allow me to see the parking lot, but they allow me to see only so far.

The key is I have to move, to step on the accelerator of the car to see beyond the dark surroundings. The more I drive, the more the road is revealed to me.

I can’t see home from sitting in the parking lot with my lights on, not moving at all. But when I start the drive home, I see more and more the way as I drive down the road. The key is I have to start on faith and believe that my lights will reveal the road ahead of me toward home.

To totally trust God means that one’s faith must involve not just sight but vision. Sight only gives us direction as far as the physical eyes can see. But vision originates in the mind and heart, and vision allows us to perceive the direction even if we do not see.

Spiritual vision allows us to see the unknown future with confidence. Even though I do not know what the future holds for me, my faith vision enlightened me as to the sovereignty of God, his love for me and his assurance of guidance. My faith vision helps me to remember that “God knows and God is working all things out for my good.” That in itself helps me to be less puzzled by the hardships in this world.

There have been times in my life that I have relied too much on what I see and not enough on what I see by faith. I have not always had the vision kind of faith that allows me to look for evidences of God and places of service beyond what I can physically see.

The Bible talks of walking by faith. Paul wrote the church at Corinth that “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7).

So what can we learn from Paul’s words? First, he is telling his readers to take heart and to take courage because better things are coming. Second, Paul says keep that courage because we are still on this earth, in this earthly body and we are not yet at home with the Lord; take hold of that faith in the Lord even though we cannot see what is ahead. Walk by faith.

So how do we do that in this carnal life when we do not have the entire picture of what is ahead? Walk by faith means to align all one’s intentions, aspirations, longings, and desires with the principles of God and then start out on faith each day. Even though we cannot see into the unknown future, our eternal home is with the Lord and someday our earthly paths will be made clear.

Judy Brandon writes about faith for The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact her at: [email protected]