It doesn’t matter how many toys we have, every two-year-old I’ve ever known loves finding the biggest pair of footwear available so they can clomp around the house in them.

We are made with this desire for greatness: to take on projects beyond our ability, to tackle impossible ventures, to commit exploits. To wear big shoes. Sometimes as adults we forget this, and we grow out of our bravery and make excuses for it, mislabeling fear as responsibility or prudence to make it sound better. But usually it’s still just fear – a tired, jaded unwillingness to launch out of our comfort zone.

But let’s not be that way. Not today, at least. Look at this with me:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

– Genesis 12:1-2

How many times has God told us to go and do something, promising His blessing along with it, but we’ve cowed and shrunk back? Umm…nah, no thanks. That blessing sounds good, but I’m not sure it’s worth it. Seems like a lot of work and unknowns, and too much risk. Thanks, but I think I’ll pass. For as many times as I have obeyed and moved out of the comfort zone, I’ve probably backed out at least twice as often.

But for those times I have obeyed, He’s done more than I could’ve dreamed. He’s brought the fire.

We tend to think that God won’t do it for us, though. Fill in the blank, whatever it is: provide, heal, restore, transform, ease the burden, make a way. Help us fill those big shoes, and help us walk in them without falling over. He does it for others, though.

So we keep praying for Him to do it for others. We have faith that He will, for them. But not always for us. Why do we think we’re the exception? Why do we think we’re so special, so particularly undeserving?

Because we know us, and we diminish Him to our perception.

But He knows us, too, just like He knows them. And our differences aren’t so huge that His blood didn’t overcome them.

If you are feeling somehow less-than or undeserving, remember this: Twice in the Old Testament the Lord held water back so His people could move forward. He is still doing it over and over in our lives, if only we have eyes to see it. He is actively, lovingly making a way for you and for me, just like He does (and did) for them:

For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.

– Joshua 4:23-24

So that all the peoples of the earth may know: That’s us. You and me and them.

That you may fear the Lord your God forever: Not fear your own circumstances or failures or inadequacies or excuses for why you are undeserving.

He is still taking the Jordan Rivers and the Red Seas in our lives and holding them back so we can walk forward. So we can write down words we’ve been putting off for too long. So we can look some ideas in the face and ask God what to do with them, and what greatness He wants to do with us. So we can take those next steps in those big, unfamiliar shoes.

I can’t imagine (and I don’t want to imagine) what He would’ve done by now had I not been too afraid to do the other things I’ve backed down from. But I’m excited for what He’s going to do from here on out.

Sometimes we look at our kids and their brilliant ideas, shake our heads, and smile, asking them, “What am I going to do with you?” And maybe God does the same thing with us, but He already knows the answer. So thank Him for knowing it. Ask Him for eyes to see it. And when He tells you to move in faith, don’t hesitate. He has made us to achieve greatness, to walk in these big shoes, and people are watching for His faithfulness as we trust Him and do it.

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This is an excerpt from ABIDE volume 4: Bravery for the Next Step, available here directly from us, or everywhere else books are sold.