By Jessica Brodie

When I was a kid, I hated walking over those metal sewer grates in the city. I could just imagine myself falling into the depths to who-knows-where. They still make me uncomfortable.

Still, I didn’t want to be afraid of them. I didn’t want to admit they made me nervous, either. So I’d force myself to walk right over them in spite of my fears. Every time I did, I got this little thrill of ferocity, like I had achieved some act of great courage and triumph.

This week, I’m thinking a lot about what it means to step out in faith, to do certain things that make us really uncomfortable or even downright scared. This can look like a host of things big and small—a job change, a relationship move, a new mission project, a financial decision.

There’s a risk involved with faith leaps, and we sometimes find ourselves weighing the options. Should I do this or that? What are the pros and cons? For Christians, we might ask ourselves, Why am I considering this step? Is this something the Holy Spirit is nudging me to do, or is this my own plan? Whose voice am I hearing—God’s or my own?

Either way, when it comes time to make that decision, it comes down to choice—to do it or not to do it. To walk over the sewer grate or go around it. To make that change or take that new job or start that new relationship or do that uncomfortable thing God is pushing you to do.

Maybe you’re waiting for a sign, and then you’re wondering if God has sent that sign, but you didn’t notice.

Maybe you’re just waiting, paralyzed in fear.

I wonder if that’s how Jonah felt about going to Nineveh. The Bible tells us God told him to go (Jonah 1:1), but maybe from Jonah’s perspective it wasn’t so clear. Maybe doubt loomed, and he wondered: Am I hearing God correctly? What if I misunderstood God? What if I’m going crazy?

If we read Jonah, we know the rest of the story. Jonah “ran away from the Lord” (Jonah 1:3 NIV). He decided not to go to Nineveh, not to walk over that sewer grate, and instead turned around and went in the other direction, toward Tarshish. We know what happened then as a result of Jonah’s disobedience—God caused a great storm to rise up, and he was tossed into the water to be swallowed by a huge fish, where he spent three days and three nights (v. 17). When he decided to do God’s will after that experience, God sent him free and enabled him to go and do, just as God had wanted all along.

Have you been in Jonah’s predicament? I have.

Sometimes when we’re presented with a life choice, we hear God’s voice loud and clear. Maybe we choose God’s way, and all is well. But maybe we don’t, and we run from God… usually to realize resistance is futile.

Other times, we’re not sure it’s God’s voice calling us to do this thing, and we agonize. Self-doubt consumes us. Does God want me to do this, or am I hearing another voice, even my own?

If you are agonizing about what to do in a situation, and you’ve prayed about whether or not this is God‘s will and you are still unsure, rest assured that if it is God‘s plan for you, God will make it happen one way or the other. We can fight it and end up in a really rotten situation (the belly of some megalodon in the sea sounds pretty awful to me!). Or we can trust God—the same God who made the universe, the sun and the moon, the stars and the earth and everything upon it and within it—and take that leap of faith. That step across the sewer grate.

Here are some tips if you are in that crux of uncertainty, seeking discernment about whether something is God’s will:

Study the Bible, and ask God to reveal the truth as you do.
Pray, and ask God to reveal his will.
Talk to other trusted Christians.
Consider whether the “leap of faith” is in alignment with God’s values.
Listen to your soul. Often, a leap of faith will feel uncomfortable and risky, yet the Holy Spirit will give you a deep sense of peace and rightness about the decision to make that leap.

If I can pray with you, please reach out. God bless you, my friends!

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