Crossroads of Faith

I’m sitting in my favorite little prayer cabin located in East Texas enjoying a precious few hours of solitude, meditation, prayer, and writing before returning home later this afternoon. I preached at my home church last night to a group of high school and college students in two different services and remembered many experiences about how my walk of faith began at the Denman Avenue Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX. It was good to go home and to see so many people I love back there and so many who helped me walk this pilgrimage of faith by prayer and encouragement.
While driving to my preaching engagement I began to contemplate the many times in our lives we come upon cross roads in our faith. These are intersections in our lives when we must make a choice to believe God and walk out our faith in obedience or trust what we can see and deduce from logic and go the other way.
Like the old saying goes, keep doing the same things in the same way and you will keep getting the same results. I wonder if this is part of the problem in so many believers’ lives. We know the scriptures and we have all sorts of head knowledge about God’s reliability and trustworthiness but when the rubber of our faith meets the real life road of trials and tests we often find our souls bankrupt of faith. Somehow the things we know in our head have not found their way into our souls and core convictions about how we live and approach life.
Noah faced a cross road of faith when God called him to do something no other person before or since has been called to do. By faith he had a choice to obey or disobey, to believe and act on that belief or to doubt and fail to follow through. Hebrews 11:7 states, “By faith Noah, after being warned about what was not seen, in reverence built an ark to deliver his family. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” Noah chose to step out and believe that something he had never seen in the form of God’s judgment was indeed coming and the ark was the only hope for the salvation of his family.
Moses faced many such cross roads of faith. He faced one at the burning bush [Ex 3:1-10]. He faced another at the Red Sea [Ex 14:1-31] He faced one more when the people were thirsty [Ex 15:22-27]. The biggest cross road came when deciding whether to go in and possess the promised land. The vote from the spies was ten to two in favor of not believing nor obeying God [Num 13-14]. This lack of trust at the cross roads of faith cost an entire nation including Moses himself. Other people’s unbelief can impact lives far beyond their own. My lack of faith could have devastating consequences on Brenda and the boys but conversely my choosing to follow God by faith can also have a wonderful benefits and blessings for my family. This tells me that the majority can be wrong. This is a frightening thought when you think about how many churches make decisions. Many do it by popular vote. It is possible to have a majority of people who live in doubt actually vote against doing the will of God. The majority can walk up to the same cross road and in mass choose the road that leads away from faith. The consequences of such choices can be tragic, just ask the nation of Israel how much they enjoyed forty years of living beneath their destiny as a whole generation of doubters died off. Why are we so prone to live in doubt?
Over and over again in the scriptures people faced cross roads of faith. At times ordinary people believed and trusted God for extraordinary things. At other times they chose the road of doubt and unbelief. People like Elijah who believed God over and over again. People like David who faced a giant in the name of the Lord. People like Daniel and his three friends. There were others like the disciples who despite seeing miracle after miracle who chose doubt over and over again. There was a whole nation who despite beholding God’s faithfulness time and time again they doubted and bowed in submission to their fears.
I have faced dozens and dozens of such cross roads of faith in my life. I was brought to this intersection of faith this past Sunday while preaching at FBC Paradise. I expect that I will face dozens and dozens more such intersections of faith before all is said and done. You know what is frightening for me. I can believe God at one cross roads and walk the way of faith and confident trust in my Lord and yet on another day at another cross roads I can choose the way of doubt, fear, and what I can see. If I want to follow God’s plan for me to get where He wants me to be I have to choose faith every time.
If I get in my car and start a journey but each time I come up to an intersection I just follow any whim do I really expect to end up at my destination. For me to get to the Denman Avenue Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX from FBC in Paradise, TX I had to map out a course. Fortunately I have made this trip several times and I know three or four different routes. I chose the shortest one leading me along the way to this prayer cabin where I spent the night last night and am enjoying these few moments to reflect and write. Each time I came to an intersection I chose the course that would get me to my desired destination.
As a Christian my ultimate desired destination is God’s approval. That means I must be willing to walk the path of faith even if I have to walk it alone many times. “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him, must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.” [Heb 11:6]
I don’t know what intersection you are facing in your life today. Choose the road of faith. You might not see where that road will lead. It may go against common sense and what feels right. I urge you to choose the road of faith anyway. It is the only way to please your God and leads to a life of His infinite reward.