faith like a child

It's been a rainy day here in Ocean City, MD after a beautiful week of sunshine and intense heat. This has left for a lot of time to sit around and relax indoors as opposed to in the midst of sweltering heat. This has allowed me time to reflect on my moving forward once this vacation ends. In a little more than two weeks I will be embarking upon my career as a public educator. I am excited about the opportunity of having a classroom of my own, while also anxious about the work and my overall effectiveness. Seeing this day coming for the past three months, my time with God recently has involved a significant amount of faith refining. I have asked Him to work out the dross in my faith, and He has faithfully answered each and every one of those requests. Ironically, the most intense refining has been occurring over my vacation (particularly with my interactions with one of my fellow vacationers).

In Matthew 18:3 Jesus says, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Thankfully, this verse has been made a harsh reality as I have spent many hours this week with a very special three year old. Typically, we like to think of this image depicting children as fully trusting those in authority over them all the time. The child I have been blessed to be around this week has given me a clearer picture. His faith is not without questions. Actually, it is quite the opposite. He has a question for just about everything under the sun, and he is never afraid to ask it. Could this be the faith God is calling us to? Could He be saying that while we think we aren't as bad as this child, we are actually much worse? I think to some extent this is what God is saying. I also think there is another aspect I tend to overlook.

Faith is not blind. We are not called to leave behind wisdom and knowledge for the sake of the plunge. Instead we are called to seek wisdom through God and His Word. However, there are times when God does call us to simply lay aside all our questions and follow Him. In the case of my three year old friend, it is usually during the simplest tests. He is filled with questions when everything doesn't make sense, but he is ready to follow when everything seems simple. The funny thing to me is that I tend to behave in the opposite manner. I will let go of my desire to lead when the path seems unclear. I fear getting lost, and gladly want God to blaze the path. However, once the path becomes more clear I want control back because I think I can find the way. For some reason when the everything is laid out clear in front of me, my faith in God weakens. I expect Him to help with the big things, but fear He leaves with the small. This concept never crosses the mind of a child, which is what I believe God is trying to say. We can't ever think we are mature enough to do anything without God, no matter how simple the task may seem. Obviously, the faith of a child is filled with questions and unsurety, but they always come back to the faithfulness of those caring for them. Thankfully for Christians, God is still throwing a perfect game.