A Leap of Faith

NOW [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you…So Abram departed, as the Lord had directed him. Genesis 12:1-7

We live by faith, moment by moment, placing our trust and confidence in the Lord, knowing that it is in Him we live and move and have our being. We walk by faith, taking faithful steps of obedience as the Holy Spirit directs us through the daily activities of life. There are also times when we are led by the Lord to take a leap of faith.

A leap of faith is not a leap into the dark, a leap of recklessness, a leap of presumption, or a leap of wild speculation. Rather, it is a leap of faith into a major decision or commitment that we are confident God is directing us to take. A leap of faith can mean a major change in our lives that can take us down a new pathway and away from the familiar, the convenient, or the comfortable.

A leap of faith can often come following an extended time of waiting on the Lord. During those waiting times, God wants us to be still. When the time is right, God will confirm the way, arrange the circumstances, and assure us of His timing. When the waiting time is over, God does not want us to linger, but to take a leap of faith into the change.

Vance Havner refers to a leap of faith as something he did as a boy called “Gully Jumping.” Here is what he says about it:

“Gully jumping means getting across a gully in one leap. The secret is in getting a good running start and going over on the first try. If you were to run up to the brink and then have your courage fail so that you had to go back and start all over, that would be disastrous. It would be just twice as hard to do next time.

Gully jumping illustrates a very vital principle in the Christian life of faith. Nothing is more disastrous than to study faith, analyze faith, make noble resolves of faith, but never actually make the leap of faith. It is running up to the edge of a gully but never jumping. Each time the process is repeated, it becomes more difficult to make the leap of full committal to the truth one knows…we do not get over the gully by feeling like it or by thinking about it. We have to call on the will and jump…no man ever jumped toward Christ but found beneath him the Everlasting Arms.”

–Vance Havner

Is there a gully you need to jump? Are you at a place in your walk with the Lord when it is time to take a leap of faith? Is the Spirit saying to you, “The waiting is over, it is time to move forward?” May your heart be encouraged today to do what the Lord is directing you to do, and may you be assured that beneath you are His everlasting arms.

©2019 Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow, all rights reserved.