Eyes On the Road

Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. 2 Chronicles 20:3

Allegedly, when I drive, I tend to swerve towards wherever I’m looking. I say allegedly because the behavior is, as of yet, an unconfirmed accusation. My wife claims that while I’m driving, I have a propensity to look away from the road, at all the interesting and distracting sites, and angle the car in that direction. We have yet to swerve off the road, which my wife would say is because of her terrified gasps and verbal reminders to keep my eyes on the road. Her point is that wherever my eyes are looking – wherever my face is facing – that’s where I go.

This, I think, is an apt metaphor for faith. When I was a kid, I thought faith was an intense belief – a banishment of all doubt – that something would happen. To have great faith then, meant to be absolutely sure of it. For instance, if I prayed for rain today, then having great faith would mean that I believed really hard for it to happen. Any doubt would represent a lack of faith and if it didn’t happen, that would be because of my lack of faith.

I now see faith quite differently. True faith, instead of requiring the absence of fear and doubt, can actually thrive in presence of fear and doubt. Today’s passage illustrates my point. When surrounded by an overwhelming hoard of his enemies, King Jehoshaphat experienced great fear. In his fear, he turned his face towards God, desperately seeking him. To focus his gaze, he fasted and he instructed his people to do likewise. Faith, in this story, wasn’t that absence of doubt and fear. Rather, faith was practiced by the intense focus of Jehoshaphat’s gaze upon God, as the rest of him followed, even though he was afraid.

My wife is right. Where I look, I go. If I’m focused on me and my appetite, I’ll pursue me and my appetite. I’ve been down that road before though, and I don’t much like where it takes me. So, today and every day, I must focus my gaze on God, pursuing his will for me. Faith isn’t the absence of doubt, but rather, faith is purposefully pointing my face at God, making my feet follow.