Picture a child following her parent. She wants to follow, but her little legs
sometimes must take 2-3 steps for her daddy’s one. She wants to follow, but gets distracted and
takes her eyes off him. She strays off the path or stops. She wants to
follow, but gets tired and has to rest.
Now, her daddy knows all these things are likely to happen. He’s seen it over and over because he has
lots of children. So, when she can’t
keep up, he slows down. When she rests,
he waits for her to get up and start walking again. When she gets distracted, he sometimes calls
out to her to show her where he is and what direction she needs to go. Keeping in step with her father takes
constant effort for the little girl. But the thought of leaving her behind
never crosses her daddy’s mind. He will
always be there.
Is it just a coincidence that God calls
Himself our Father? Surely He knows just
how we would struggle when trying to walk with Him. He asks us to walk in the light with Him (I
John 1:7). He tells us that we aren’t
capable of successfully directing our own steps (Proverbs 3:5-6). He wants us to have even more confidence in
Him than a little child has in her daddy.
He tells us to have so much faith in Him that we walk by faith in Him,
not by our own sight and understanding (II Corinthians 5:7). So, when we think about keeping in step with
God, it'll please him if we remember how deeply He wants us with
Him. His desire for us is much like a
father’s desire to protect and sustain his child.
The part for us to dwell on is that we, the children, have
to keep wanting to be with God, the father.
When a child decides she knows better than Dad, sometimes she heads out
on her own path and leaves her father behind.
Someone reading this is thinking, “I’ve left my heavenly Father
behind.” But He’s never far from any of
us (Acts 17:26). When you reach for Him,
He will be there. And, He will even slow
down when you stumble.
----Darrell Powell
