“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.’” - Genesis 12:1-2
Perhaps the greatest model of faith and trust in the bible is Abraham. When God spoke to Abraham there was no hesitation on the part of a man in whom three distinct religions would have their origins (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). The bible says, “So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.” - Genesis 12: 4a. Abraham simply gathered his wife and his nephew’ family and their belongings . . . and followed God’s orders . . . without question. What greater example of faith and trust can we look to?
God spoke: Abraham obeyed! “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” - Hebrews 11:8. That is faith and trust exemplified. He left all he knew in life behind - “he went out, not knowing where he was going,”and trust in God’s word that he would be blessed - that God would surely bless him.” Faith and trust! Do we have such faith and trust in our Lord? Who, today, has the faith of Abraham?
Before Abraham responded to God’s calling in Haran scripture says God had led him out of Ur. “And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’” - Acts 7:2-4. Abraham responded to God’s call for him to leave Ur he had no idea what the Lord had planned for him, but he knew (by faith) that God did indeed have a plan for him. So he left all that he was familiar with - his country, his lifestyle, his extended family, friends . . . the entire world as he knew it for some “unknown.” Having been born and raised into a pagan world Abraham’s heart was opened by the Holy Spirit to the reception of God by faith as the Spirit does in all who come to believe. “Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.” - Acts 16:4.
As children (and oftentimes as adults) we place our unreserved trust in our parents. For those of us blessed with great parents we never hesitated to believe what they told us. Once, when I was about six years old, I climbed into a rather precarious position in a backyard tree. I found myself “rim-rocked;” a rock-climber’s term meaning that you can’t go further up but more disturbingly . . . you cannot get back down! I was stuck and panicked and I began to cry. My father, who had been watching from the kitchen window saw my predicament and came out to rescue me. When he stood just a few feet beneath me and told me to “jump” into his arms I did so - without hesitation because I trusted him completely.
Do any of us trust God that completely? We should. We no longer have to trust or place our faith in an “unknown variable.” We now have certain knowledge of God’s promise, that God is leading us to salvation through our Lord, Jesus Christ! Abraham may not have known where he was going but he certainly knew who was leading him.
May God bless us all with the faith that saves.
No comments:
Post a Comment