Go Ahead and Jump
“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you”, he said. “Come on. Jump.”
Her heart started pounding in her small chest. The arm of the sofa was one thing. This was something else entirely!
She loved standing and balancing on the gentle curve of the couch arm, yelling “catch me!” to her daddy that was standing just a couple of feet away. He would reach out his arms and she would jump ecstatically to him, drop down and scramble up on the couch again, repeating the leap over and over. It was one of her most favorite things to do.
This was different. This was bigger. This was scarier.
Right outside their front door they had a big deck. It stretched from the front door out to the driveway with steps leading down to the driveway. In her young eyes it was at least twenty feet down to the ground. On this day, they were all leaving to go out somewhere and she was standing on the deck waiting. Her daddy was standing in the driveway below several steps away. Then he called out to her.
“Hey baby girl. Jump! Come on…you can do it. I’m right here!”
Jump? From here?
“It’s too high, daddy. I can’t! I’m scared.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you”, he said. “Come on. Jump.”
She looked off the edge of the deck. She looked at her father. She could see calmness in his eyes, and…something else. Later, when she was older, she knew that look was confidence. But right then, he just looked solid. Then he smiled. And that’s all it took. She backed up, took a running start, and jumped.
After he caught her, of course she wanted to do it again…and again…and again. She didn’t know something that looked so scary could be so fun!
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
James 1:22-25
I was reading a devotional some time ago by Rick Warren, and in it he says this:
“God won’t teach you something new until you’ve put into practice what he’s already taught you. God isn’t in the business of simply satisfying your curiosity. He tells you something and waits for you to act on it. Once you act on it, then you get to go to the next step.”
What is the difference between knowing and learning?
Doing.
I can know all there is to know about trusting God, but until I actually do it, I haven’t learned anything. God calls us to be doers of the Word (James 1:22).
Do you trust? Then obey. When God gives us one step to take and we respond in obedience, then He gives us the next step. One jumping off point leads to another and we follow the Lord all along the way, one step at a time. If God asks you to jump, you have to decide if you trust him enough to obey. Because without obedience, there is no trust.
If I want to be involved in opportunities that are beyond what I can imagine (high ledges in front of me), then I need to be faithful and obedient where I am right now…so that I’m ready when those opportunities come.
Make a habit of looking for these opportunities…have your antennas up, look for them, listen for them. For when we do it, it will create jumping off points for us and for others.
Talk about what He is doing in you so He can do it through you. It’s all about becoming more and more Christ-like.
Are you willing? What is your next step of obedience? Does it look different? Does it look bigger? Is “real” trust going to have to come into play?
Don’t worry. Just look to the Father. See His calmness, His confidence? See how solid He is? See how He’s smiling?
Back up. Take a running start.
And who knows. It just may turn out to be the funnest thing you’ve ever done.
Dear Father. The ledge looks really high from my vantage point! But if I can’t trust You, who can I trust? Oh Lord, I need courage to take that running start! Even if it’s just a jog! Help me to keep my eyes on you, because I know You will never let me fall! Amen.
