Faith is taking God at his Word. Last time, we discovered that faith is about believing, even when we don’t see. It is about trusting, even when we don’t understand.
Noah was the first great faith example we considered from Hebrews 11.
Abraham is another who obeyed even when he didn’t understand. “By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8 NIV)
Abraham was about 75 years old when God decided to send him on the greatest adventure of his life. Abraham was not given any details.
About the time Abraham was ready to settle down, God says, "Abraham, I want you to pack up and leave all that you have known for the past 75 years." It is almost as if God said, "Abraham, I just want you to trust me."
Remember, Abraham was a human being, just like you and me. He definitely wanted answers to some specific questions. “Where are we going, Lord? How long is it going to take to get there? How will I know when I’m there?”
How would you respond if God showed up right around your retirement and rocked your world by moving you to a place you knew nothing about?
God was sending Abraham to a place he had never been before. God was going to start over and build a great nation through Abraham.
How would you respond if you were in Abraham’s place? Would you sign on for that trip? Abraham did, and he became the father of faith. He even became the father of a nation because he obeyed when he didn’t understand it.
Obedience often involves taking some risks. Some people only want to obey God when there’s a guarantee. “God, I’ll do whatever you say, if you’ll just guarantee that everything will work out for me.” But there are no guarantees. God just wants us to trust him and to live by faith.
Sometimes, God asks us to do something impossible to stretch our faith. I believe he sometimes asks us to do something that doesn’t make sense at all for the same reason.
When God has given us specific instructions, he expects us to listen. When you do, you reap the blessings of trusting God and taking him at his word.
God will bless your obedience, but when you ignore his commands and decide to go your own way, there is a price to pay.
You may read Steve Greene’s blog at pastorgreene.wordpress.com or you can email him at [email protected].
