The Lord appeared to Abraham one day and gave him an incredible command: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1, NKJV). What an amazing thing. Suddenly, God picked out a man and told him, “I want you to get up and go, leaving everything behind, your home, your relatives, even your country. I want to send you someplace, and I will direct you how to get there along the way.” How did Abraham respond to this incredible word from the Lord? “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). What was God up to? Why would he search the nations for one man and then call him to forsake everything and go on a journey with no map, no preconceived direction, no known destination? Think about what God was asking of Abraham. He never showed him how he would feed or support his family. He didn’t tell him how far to go or when he would arrive. He only told him two things in the beginning: “Go,” and, “I will show you the way.” In essence, God told Abraham, “From this day on, I want you to give me all your tomorrows. You’re to live the rest of your life putting your future into my hands, one day at a time. If you will commit to do this, I will bless you, guide you and lead you to a place you never imagined.” Abraham is what Bible scholars call a “pattern man,” someone who serves as an example of how to walk before the Lord. Make no mistake, Abraham was not a young man when God called him to make this commitment. He probably had plans in place to secure his family’s future, so he had to be concerned over many considerations as he weighed God’s call. Yet Abraham “believed in the Lord; and [God] counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). The apostle Paul tells us that all who believe and trust in Christ are the children of Abraham. Like Abraham, we are counted as righteous because we heed the same call to entrust all our tomorrows into the Lord’s hands. |
No comments:
Post a Comment