Baby Steps

If you’ve seen the movie “What About Bob?” you will remember that a therapy patient, who fears everything and anything, is initially advised by his therapist to take “baby steps” to learn to function normally. The comical story takes us through the many antics of Bob as he learns to take those first steps.

When you take one small step of faith, and God opens a door, then you can take another step. If He closes the door, then you back off. Try another direction or wait awhile; but always keep praying and then step out again.

Even the parents of Jesus had to make some adjustments in their direction until they had it right. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him to take baby Jesus back to Israel. So Joseph headed in that direction; but on the way, he was frightened to hear that the new king was Herod’s son, who also wanted to kill Jesus. Then in another dream, Joseph was warned not to go to Judea, so they went to Galilee instead and lived in Nazareth (Matt. 2:19-23). Joseph and Mary were not sure what steps they should take, but they took one step at a time.

The Lord knows that He could overwhelm us by revealing His whole plan at once. It’s so big that we might be frightened and not take the first step. Consequently, He leads us one step at a time so that we can handle it. “The steps of a good man,” the bible says, “are ordered by the Lord” (Ps. 37:23).

Some of God’s people spend their lives in so much fear of making a mistake that they never do anything. There are times when it is much better to do something rather than continue to do nothing. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Take a step of faith today.