As a husband and father, you are the leader of your home. What you do directly affects those in your care. Knowing how much to do yourself, versus how much to wait for God to do, is a challenging issue spiritual leaders often face.
My best advice is to do as much as you can to make things happen while you trust God to provide what your family needs. Faith is not a feeling. Faith involves your feet. Faith is acting like God is telling the truth. It doesn’t mean sitting still and doing nothing. Yet, you should never go outside of what God allows in order to make something happen, even if you believe it is for the benefit of your home. If you have to cross a boundary God has set up, or if there is nothing you can do to solve or address the issue, wait for God to intervene.
Pray and wait
I faced a situation like this in our home. My son, Jonathan, struggled in school due to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) that severely hindered his ability to read. As the designated “homework assistant” in the Evans home, I spent hours each evening sitting with Jonathan at the kitchen table, trying to help him learn how to read.
Even though I was doing everything I could — I was committed, sincere and consistent — Jonathan experienced only a limited amount of success. He still did not reach the level of reading he needed to. At that point, I had to continue to do all I could, but I also had to continue to pray and wait to see what God would do.
God’s solution
After a few years of working with Jonathan in the evenings, someone told me about a private school that specialized in helping kids like Jonathan learn how to read. (This was a number of years ago when awareness about things like ADD was not as it is now.) Through this conversation, God revealed His solution. We enrolled Jonathan in this school, and his reading improved drastically.
Jonathan later went to Baylor University and completed his degree in three-and-a-half years. He is now working toward his master’s degree at Dallas Theological Seminary, and he serves as the managing director for my national broadcast ministry, The Urban Alternative.
As a father, leading by faith involves doing all you can within God’s prescribed boundaries, staying attuned to God and waiting for Him to provide a solution.
Dr. Tony Evans is the president of The Urban Alternative and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. He also serves as chaplain for the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Cowboys and is the author of Kingdom Man, a book that helps men become who God designed them to be. Learn more at KingdomManBook.com/Focus.
