Once again, I have found that hiking is a great context within which to hear from God. Today he had me thinking about risks. When a decision feels risky, when is it foolish to proceed and when is it faithful? Here are five ways to decipher.
1. Follow the Evidence
Since I have the directional sense of a migrating sea turtle, I go hiking with an important resource: offline maps. I download a map before heading out on the trail and even without wi-fi the map on my phone shows me where I am in relation to the trail.
This is essential since I have taken the wrong trail more than once, and even ended up on the opposite side of a hill, completely removed from the trail I was pursuing. Don’t ask.
One morning (after downloading the app), I followed the directions, but there was a discrepancy between the online preview and the download: they had the same name and started in the same location, but they didn’t go the same way.
I finished the disappointing trail and then saw a car parked up the road. Maybe the driver had found the correct path? Without an online map, I had to acknowledge the evidence which was this: pursuing that trail would have been a foolish risk.
We don’t always like the evidence and it’s temporarily easy to ignore. Samson was badgered by Delilah to tell her the secret of his great strength. He ignored the evidence that Delilah meant to see him murdered (Judges 16).
I won’t suggest that my love of hiking is anywhere near as dramatic as Samson’s lust for Delilah, but you can see the importance of not being swayed by our longings or our pride. Rash choices could lead to dire consequences.
2. Follow the Fruit
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Starting a new relationship is risky.
A friend of mine is in a relationship with a guy who has shown some good character traits, but he hasn’t made enough of an effort.
She has driven 14 hours to be close to him — twice. He, on the other hand, hasn’t even offered to meet her halfway. We can only see fruit in action. Fruitfulness is not a theory. It’s not an idea.
My friend rightly believes it would be risky to get involved with someone who appears to consider his time more important than hers. She has already taken some risks in the relationship on the strength of her feelings, but God has been merciful, and she is faithful.
I pray that she will continue to seek his wisdom and that either this guy will make the effort she deserves, or she will be able to walk away without heartbreak. Looking for fruit is like following evidence, but it’s very personal evidence.
You gain during one-on-one exchanges, which take some investment. But knowing how much time to invest is wrapped up in your own fruit, especially the self-control, patience, and discernment the Holy Spirit grows in you.
3. Listen to Witnesses
We want what we want, and sometimes we don’t want to hear what God has to say. He can shout it from His Word; he can give your spirit a really hard pinch in an effort to wake you up; he can talk to us through our friends.
In the midst of a terrible relationship, a persistent Christian counselor spotted the emotional abuse another friend was unable to see, yet she thought that leaving the relationship was too big a risk since she couldn’t tell which way was up.
Mired in the chaos of dark emotions, everything she did, thought and felt was foolish to her. It made sense to listen to the witness of friends, pastors, and (ultimately) the Lord.
After a long time, she finally listened and took a painful but faithful risk: she left, supported by a lot of reliable people.
“On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness” (Deuteronomy 17:6). Yes, I know, we’re not talking about executing someone.
On the other hand, we are talking about a major life decision. As I learned from a counseling course years ago, we have to take our beliefs to court in a sense and put them in the dock.
If they don’t stand up to cross-examination, perhaps the risk isn’t worth taking. Again, this is about looking for evidence, but not from within your own experience exclusively. We need fellowship for so many reasons: objectivity is one of them.
4. Follow the Spirit
In the secular world, they call this “listening to your gut” or “instinct.” In the Christian world, we believe that the Holy Spirit dwells in us as the Helper. He will sometimes urge us towards or away from an action.
I can’t tell you if the Spirit has saved me from a cougar attack or a long drop into a ravine by giving me that queasy feeling before I set off because I didn’t go.
I can remember one time, at the head of a trail (when I didn’t have the app yet), where I hit the trail and then felt physically unable to move forward, as though there was a wall in front of me.
I turned around and found somewhere else to hike. I have also ignored the spirit and wound up on the edge of a cliff. Again, don’t ask.
Peter was warned by the Spirit that men were looking for him (Acts 10:19). And Paul told the elders in Ephesus, “I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me” (Acts 20:22-23).
Both men were forewarned by the Spirit as to what they could expect, but not prevented from taking the huge risk of sharing the gospel when to do so was always potentially dangerous.
Yet, in Acts 16, we see that the Holy Spirit sometimes prevented Paul and the disciples from entering certain cities.
God isn’t necessarily glorified when we take chances and get hurt. Our suffering isn’t always for his glory, although he can and will use it in any way he likes. To pursue danger gratuitously is just foolish.
5. Follow Christ
When we follow Christ, we take the risk of being unpopular, even to the point of persecution. It has to be a joy, or we wouldn’t do it. Jesus was a risk taker, telling the Pharisees where to put their religiosity, gleaning grain on the Sabbath, and visiting with sinners.
“The wisdom of God is often only fully seen in retrospect. When man’s wisdom has passed as a fad, the mountain of God’s truth remains. Whereas time exposes the world’s wisdom, it will only vindicate God’s — and anyone who faithfully declared it to the world.”
Jon Bloom admits that the world looks at us Christians with our unpopular gospel and thinks we are crazy or stupid. “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
That’s why it’s such a risk to share the gospel with others. They look at us like we’re nuts. They avoid us at lunch and whisper about us behind our backs.
Soon, the rest of your co-workers or your classmates have an online group chat going on and you’re not included. Then again, they could be talking about the types of TV shows, music, films, and other topics that your spirit recoils from, but still — you can’t help feeling rejected.
Then again, that’s the risk you took becoming a Christian, a known risk, and when you realize why you are on the outside, you realize you might just be growing in your walk with the Lord.
Christ knows what it costs you to risk your social status to follow him. His audience heard the message, and they didn’t like when he talked about sacrifice. Even though the end is beautiful, the road is steep and slippery.
But the risk of sharing is worthwhile because following Christ is the best risk your friends will ever take. It’s the best thing you will ever do with your life.
The evidence is in the resurrection, we must bear witness to it, and invite others into fellowship with Jesus, and we have the Holy Spirit to help us know how and when to take that risk.
For further reading:
What Are the Prayers of the Faithful?
How Can I Be Faithful When I’m Struggling?
Is Christianity a Psychological Crutch?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/franckreporter
