In life and in business, we have learned how to make calculated risks. We run the numbers, we look out possible outcomes and then make a decision based on that information on whether we should proceed or not. The problem we run into is when we let that bleed into our spiritual life and then try to call it faith. They are not the same. Faith steps out not knowing what the outcome will be. Faith is built on trust in God rather than on human wisdom. A calculated risk says, “I’ve crunched the numbers and the odds are acceptable.” Faith says, “God has told me to do this. His word is enough even when it appears the odds aren’t.” One trusts in our abilities while the other trusts God’s.
In Genesis 12:1, God told Abram, “Go away from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you” (AMP). Abram didn’t start looking at the risk of leaving his family behind, walking away from his inheritance or not knowing where he was going. Because God said it, he packed up his things are started walking where God directed him. If he had done a risk assessment, he would have never left based on the odds of survival. However, Hebrews 11 says by faith he lived as a nomad in a tent. By faith he trusted in God’s promise. Genesis 15:6 says that God counted his faith as righteousness. As a result, he became the patriarch of a nation and experienced a close relationship with God.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him.” It’s not by taking calculated risks that we please God. It’s by acting in faith on what He said no matter what we think the odds are. Acting in faith can seem risky to us. Walking into the unknown can feel scary. But without faith, you can’t please God or truly know Him. Without faith, there is no intimacy with God. Has God asked you to do something and you’re stalling because of the risk? Have you tried to see how it’s possible to make it work? Faith doesn’t look at the numbers or the odds. Instead it trusts God’s abilities over your own. Risky faith takes the first step before you know the second one. God rewards those who seek Him and walk in faith and not by sight.
Photo by Davyd Markovskyi on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 