Walking Forward

I feel quite fortunate that on many mornings I am able to hear God's voice. I say specifically mornings because it is the most quiet time in my day. It's the time when my house is still and many time - but not always - my heart is still too. Truthfully, there are some nights that I fall asleep with so much of the day still rolling around in my head, that it's hard to break that loose. The mornings following those nights - I find that my stillness is lacking. Some days I wonder where my stillness may have gone.

Many of the folks who know me, know I'm a Facebook fan. The messages that I get in my quiet time usually end up as a status update on my Facebook wall. Sometimes the words I hear speak directly to my current "place" - one thing I needed to know to make a situation right, or to learn a lesson I missed, or to make a point more clear, or to move to the next "place."

Sometimes the words I receive don't belong to me, but I know exactly who it's for. I dread those moments. The spirit wells up in me and I am pushed into action. Something people may not know about me is that I am very reluctant to offer advise. "What you should do is . . . " I don't mind, usually, sharing something about myself that relates to whatever place that person is in, if I believe in my heart it will help them. I also don't mind sharing things that I KNOW. Not what I heard, but what I KNOW. If I'm certain of something - I will fight 1,000 battles based on what I know to be true. Ask my husband and my Pastor - they know this about me. However, when I "hear" a message that I'm told to give to a specific person - whether or not I know the situation surrounding why they need the message - I face a great deal of trepidation in approaching them.

Sometimes - like this morning - I just hear a phrase that feels profound to me. I don't know who it's meant for. It could very easily be for me. It could very easily be for someone I know. It could also, just as easily, be meant to share for whomever might have been needing just those words. Today it is a question. "Have you ever noticed how much extra time and concentration it takes to walk backward?"

I heard the question in my spirit and I immediately made it my Facebook status. It was meant for somebody in that instant.

The more the question plays back (words tend to haunt me), the more I can see the literal action of walking backward. Try it. I dare you. Is your line straight? What's behind you? Do you feel balanced or just a bit off center? What is your purpose for walking backward?

Your knees bend in the direction that God means for your legs to move. Why do something that is counter-intuitive to your nature?

One of the earliest reference in Scripture is Exodus 14:15, "Tell the children of Israel to go forward." And if we look at all they went through - just up to this point - we'd be hard pressed to ask the question - Why do they want to walk backward? Some of us find ourselves in similar (although perhaps not as drastic) situations. Where we know the hell we left, but still feel compelled to walk backward. Just for kicks, I'd like to point out another passage in this chapter. In verse 8 we are told that "the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh" and tells us further that it was this hardness that made him pursue the children of Israel and that same hardness of Pharaoh's heart that made the children of Israel leave with boldness.

Sometimes God will send you an adversary to make you want to fight for what is yours already.

And then fear kicks in and worry and doubt and we forget all about walking by faith. We want to go back to the comfort of the known - even if the known is detrimental to our health and/or our well-being. "Tell the children of Israel to go forward." And when they do - God does what He always does when we are obedient - He protects them. If you are like me, your first encounter with this story may have been the 1956 version of the movie "The Ten Commandments" starring Charleton Heston. There's that scene when Moses stretches out his rod and the Red Sea splits and just as the last child of Israel makes it across - the waters come crashing down on Pharaoh's Army.

Some of us never make it to the parting of the seas. And some of us - once we have witnessed the sea crashing down on the stuff that was meant to die - still want to go swimming back through all the damaged-filled waters to the person, place or thing we fought so hard to escape.

Have you ever noticed how much time and concentration it takes to walk backward?

Ecclesiastes 7:10 warns us, "Do not say, "Why were the former days better than these?" For you do not inquire wisely concerning this." In other words - walk forward. Walk forward knowing that your best days - our best days - are ahead and not behind.

Rejoice knowing that God does what God says. And remember to use the knees God gave you - both for bending as you walk forward and for kneeling down upon to pray.