Taking a Lean of Faith (when a ‘leap’ seems like too much to ask)

By: Jana Greene

Leaning.

Do you ever feel teeter-tottery? Overwhelmed, as if the wind has been knocked out of your spirit?

There is a purported trust-building game in which a person deliberately allows themselves to fall, relying on the other members of the group – spotters – to catch him or her. A “trust fall” requires a total letting go of self and dependence on another. What about the times for which you cannot seem to truly let go of pain and free-fall into complete faith? Am I a “bad” Christian when I struggle with trust? Or am I a “normal” Christian, who doesn’t get it right all the time?

I’m learning to “lean into” God, even when a trust fall seems too much to ask. What does the leaning look like?

It helps to be totally undone in order to properly lean

Leaning into God does not require that you have my balance. As a matter of fact, I must alter my angle to lean, give up my foothold. You cannot be perfectly balanced and leaning at the same time. It requires a certain vertigo event, a dizziness. It’s okay to bend toward the Father.

God wants you to fall against Him

He isn’t afraid of your weight or the heft of your burdens. He is strong and immovable.

Leaning means that I have to rest

There is an element of relaxation in a proper lean.

And trust in preparation for the fall

If you lean against nothing, you crash to the floor. Isn’t that what we are really afraid of? What if I buckle under the worry, and hit the ground, and a force of Supreme Love isn’t there to catch us? We fear we may never recover. That’s the reason we aren’t all in a constant freefall lean into God.

But He is worthy of trust.

The Bible says we are given faith, not that we earn it. God knows that we have to learn how to flex the faith muscle. He knows we have to learn how to genuflect with that gift in order to rely on it properly. He isn’t suprised that we aren’t fearless. Pray for the faith to fall into His promises. And then lean into Him until you can.

Leaning requires movement on my part.

I am stubborn. I like to do things myself, thank you very much. But standing straight and rigid and being self-sufficient are not what the supernatural life is all about. Surrender takes surrender. I know that much. I have to will the topple, in order to trust God to provide stability.

Are you feeling teeter-tottery?

If you cannot jump into the arms of the Father,

If you just don’t have the spiritual energy to take that leap of faith…

Don’t just stand where you are, afraid to move at all.

Lean into Him.

Lean in close enough so that you can hear His whisper.

“Don’t panic!” He is saying. “I’m right here to help you.”