As followers of Jesus we know, intellectually, that our God is in control and that our lives are directed by His perfect knowledge and sovereign will. And we know, intellectually, “that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to [His] purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

But as humans, it is so difficult to know these things spiritually, to actually live our lives knowing that God is in control. The Apostle Paul stated this rather succinctly, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (Second Corinthians 5:7) Our Christian walk must be by faith, and not by what we see around us.

Brother Hal Lindsey recently gave an excellent example of walking by faith from a personal experience. Brother Lindsey is not a pilot, but enjoys flying and has flown many times with an experienced pilot. Sometimes the pilot allows him to “take the yoke” and fly the plane. On one occasion they were flying in heavy rain and the visibility was next to zero. This required flying by the instruments which indicate the attitude of the aircraft.

As Brother Lindsey was flying he watched the “artificial horizon” indicator. This gauge shows whether the plane is level, or not, and whether the plane is climbing or descending. The longer he flew with no real visibility, the more his sense told Brother Lindsey that the plane was banking to the left. The artificial horizon showed that the plane was level, but Brother Lindsey felt more and more like they were banking to the left.

This is a wonderful picture of our walk through this life. There are times when our sense, or our mind, tells us to change direction even though we know we are walking in the direction the Lord would have. This is when we need to trust the “gauges,” or spiritually, trust the Lord to keep us in metaphoric level flight.

I encourage you to read Hebrews chapter eleven for a recitation of those who walked by faith. They are heroes of the faith, and “the world was not worthy of them.” If we walk by faith, perhaps we can also be counted as heroes of the faith.

Our walk is by faith, not by sight. We must trust the Lord in all things. Each of us can look back on our lives and see the direction of the Lord, and it is always to our good. Praise the Lord for His direction over our lives.