Above The Details

Above the Details

The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?” Numbers 14:11

THE ISRAELITES DELIVERED FROM EGYPT knew they were headed to a land God had promised. They followed God’s guidance because they believed, though slowly and with some miraculous convincing. They received his laws, won decisive victories, were fed with bread from heaven, and envisioned the joy of living in their own land. But they didn’t know the details of entering the land. So when scouts came back with a report that the land was inhabited by strong people, most of the Israelites forgot all about the promise and instead focused on the difficulty. Their vision of defeat became bigger than their vision of fulfillment.

Anyone who has clung to a promise from God knows that temptation. When we start to look at the details, we start to lose faith. We get caught up in the how of God’s purposes and begin to lose faith that he will accomplish them. If we don’t train ourselves to focus on the promise and the Promiser rather than the details of arriving where he has called us, we will most likely give up before we ever arrive.

When you see the beginnings of an answer from God, resist the tendency to notice what is still left to be done. Those details are much less important than the fact that God is already at work. Go overboard in giving thanks for the portions of the answer you have already seen. As when Jesus gave thanks for the loaves and fishes before multiplying them, our gratitude magnifies the progress we have experienced, just as our complaints or laments magnify the progress not yet made.

When you see any hint of an answer from God, refuse to give him more step-by-step instructions. Cover that partial answer with gratitude. Bless it, gaze at it in awe, and rejoice that things are happening. A focus on what God has done rather than what he hasn’t done reorients our vision. It’s part of the process of receiving by faith. It trains us emotionally to steward the small gifts well so we can steward the large gifts well too. It undoes our worries and increases our faith. And it honors the promise God has given.

Worries just don’t matter. Things really are in better hands than ours.