Trust Or Hesitate… that is the Question

Howard at 6:10 ish AM. - Sometimes his owners sleep in….

Every morning, like clockwork, our dog Howard gets up at 6:10 AM. It’s a strange time, but for some reason his internal clock is set to 6:10 on the dot. In his mind, it’s time to eat breakfast, race around the living room, play fetch, and then go outside to do his business. What’s so intriguing about Howard is his delay in stepping onto the grass to “get the job done.”

Jared and I attribute this to a one-time incident with the sprinkler system. Right after we moved in, a sprinkler head went off abruptly and scared the living daylights out of Howard. He’s never been the same since. Even over a year later, he hesitates and very slowly enters the grass to do his thang.

As I type this, I can’t help but think about being “hesitant.” I wonder what that does to the Lord when we are hesitant to trust Him. What makes us hesitate? Is it past circumstances? An inner voice whispering that He might fail? The reality of the situation overshadowing the reality of our God?

I believe all of these thoughts and actions come into play. Last Sunday, I heard a sermon in Genesis 26 about wells, and it reminded me about trusting God.

“Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with dirt. Then Abimelech said to Isaac, ‘Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.’ So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and settled there. Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them. But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, ‘The water is ours!’ So he named the well Esek, because they argued with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah. Then he moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, ‘At last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.’” Genesis 26:15–22 NASB

This really hit home for me. When you dig wells, you’re trying to find life—water, H2O, refreshment. When you strike water, many want to take ownership or argue about who found success first. What ministry had the idea, what ministry is working in a certain part of the city, and what population they “own.” Then another well springs up—another season, another ministry effort—and it’s also successful. What happens? Another argument. Another ego. Another storm. But with the last well, there was no quarreling. There was an acceptance, a recognition that “there is now room for us.”

I wonder if, deep down, we all just want to have room for what God has given us to do. I wonder if we just want to belong and see God working through many different ministries. I believe that if we trust God instead of hesitating to step into what He is asking, we will find that well gushing with living water and be satisfied in Him. The well belongs to God anyway, and He always makes room for what He has called us to do.

In my short life, I’ve noticed that those who hesitate miss crucial moments of well-digging. Fear overtakes them, and they never see the results of the wells they could have dug—wells that might have overflowed with living H2O!

Man, I don’t want that. I remember very distinctly that God told me not to hesitate in trusting Him. When the time comes (and it happens in seasons) I don’t want to hesitate and miss a pivotal moment.

Well-digging is not for the faint. It requires hard work. Digging wells is a persistent movement until you strike gold! If you stop midway, you won’t see the outcome….but even in the work, God provides the miracles.

Never “what ifs”—only “what’s next!”

From a Traveler Just Passing Through…