We stepped out in faith, hanging in the air, praying that we land on our Solid Rock. God gave confirmation after confirmation that we had followed Him.
And then the outward confirmations stopped, and Satan's sinister whispers began. "It's not going to work. God won't provide the money. You've heard how He's helped others, but He'll never help you. What made you think that you could be even a little bit like those men and women--heroes--of the faith? Do you really think that you're that special? Do you really think He cares that much about you? You don't pray enough to warrant His help. You don't care enough about other people. There's no way that God will waste His time on you. You made a mistake. You have ruined your family and destroyed your children. You did it, and now you are going to pay." His taunts echo in my mind and haunt my dreams.
The truth is, I'm not that special. I don't pray enough, and I don't care enough. But the problem with Satan's accusations is that, even though some of them are true, they pull my focus away from God and put it squarely on myself. As Peter, walking on the water, looked away from the Lord to see his precarious position and thus began to sink, when I pull my gaze away from God above to look down at myself, I then tumble headlong into Satan's trap of self-pity and discouragement.
The truth is that I am not worthy of God's love, and I am not worthy to be chosen by Him to live a courageous Christian life of faith. But He doesn't ask me to be worthy; He asks me to trust in Him, the only One Who is worthy. The life of faith begins with faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and it continues with faith in Jesus Christ and what He promises to every believer.
"...I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matthew 28:20
"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." Psalm 23:1
"For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations." Psalm 100:5
"The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." Psalm 121:7-8
I want to trust Him. I want to keep my focus on Him and not on my circumstances. I must if I am to continue walking in faith. When Satan slyly slips those nasty allegations into my thoughts, I must bring those thoughts into captivity "to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5) so that He will not have cause to say, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" (Matthew 14:31).
