Everyone has those days—the frustrating ones, the times when desires are thwarted and futility seems to reign. Believe it or not, that’s a great place to be. It doesn’t seem so at the time—when life isn’t working, when God seems far away. But God subjected this world—and your life, to a degree—to futility for a reason. That’s where faith begins.
The way of faith involves facing impossibilities. Human nature will either charge foolishly at those impossibilities to overcome them or cower in resignation before them. But the way of faith turns them over to God with full expectation that he will do something about them. When we learn to face impossibilities and defer confidently to God, we have learned the way of faith.
There may be a time when you have to put feet to your faith—in fact, there probably will be—but it doesn’t come before surrender and trust. It comes after. Let the futility and frustration lead you into that surrender, defer to God’s wisdom, power, and love, and then prepare yourself to follow as he leads. Eventually, impossibilities bow to him. And eventually, futility gives way to fruitfulness.
