Walking with Jesus — When the Conditions Are Not Perfect

Walking with Jesus — When the Conditions Are Not Perfect

“But there are some things that you cannot be sure of. You must take a chance. If you wait for perfect weather, you will never plant your seeds. If you are afraid that every cloud will bring rain, you will never harvest your crops.” — Ecclesiastes 11:4

There are some things in life we simply cannot know beforehand.

We can pray, seek godly counsel, study the situation, and make the best preparations possible—but eventually, we must take the next step. If we insist upon perfect conditions and absolute certainty, we may never move at all.

Fear has a way of disguising itself as wisdom.

We tell ourselves, “I’m waiting for the right time,” when the truth is that we are afraid of failing. We say, “I need to pray about it a little longer,” when God may have already made the next act of obedience clear.

There is certainly a time to wait upon the Lord. But waiting upon God is not the same as hiding from responsibility. Sometimes faith means standing still, and sometimes faith means putting the seed into uncertain ground.

Scripture is filled with people who felt inadequate for what God placed before them.

Moses said he was not an eloquent speaker.

Gideon said his clan was the weakest and that he was the least in his family.

Jeremiah said he was too young.

Abraham looked at his age and wondered how God’s promise could possibly be fulfilled.

God did not use these people because they were fearless, fully prepared, or naturally qualified. He used them because, despite their questions and weaknesses, they eventually obeyed Him.

Faith does not mean that every plan we make will succeed. It does not guarantee that every door will open or that every seed will produce the harvest we imagined. Faith means obeying God and trusting Him with the results.

By almost any worldly measure, our ministry of more than twenty years could be called a failure. We have not built a large organization, gathered a great following, or achieved the kind of visible success the world celebrates. Yet we continue walking, serving, praying, and sowing seeds, trusting that God’s will is being done—even when we cannot see the harvest.

I have learned that faithfulness cannot always be measured by numbers. We may never know on this side of eternity where every seed landed, whose heart was touched, or how God used a prayer, a message, or a quiet act of service. Our responsibility is to sow faithfully. The harvest belongs to God.

That is an important distinction.

We do not step forward because we believe in ourselves. We step forward because we believe in God. Our confidence is not that we cannot fail, but that God will remain faithful whether the outcome looks like success, disappointment, redirection, or something we do not yet understand.

Perhaps you have been waiting for the clouds to disappear before planting what God has placed in your hand. Perhaps fear of failure has kept you from beginning, speaking, serving, forgiving, or making a necessary change.

Do not confuse perfect conditions with God’s permission.

If the Lord has made the next step clear, take it. Plant the seed. Make the call. Begin the work. Speak the truth. Offer your service.

You do not need to know everything that lies ahead. You only need enough light to take the next faithful step.

In His love

ray & anne