The Journey
Jul 5, 2009
God’s creation had gone bad. Satan had deceived Adam and Eve, tempted them to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and they did! Sin and disobedience entered the human experience.
In our journey this summer of reading the Bible through in 90 days we have discovered that God calls each and every one of us to journey with him through life. There are times when God calls us to make some major decisions, to get out of our comfort zones, to step out in tremendous faith, putting our lives and our futures into His hands. We saw that with Noah and the building of the ark.
We see it in Genesis 12 with God’s calling of Abram to leave Ur of the Chaldees and venture forth into an unknown land. He would be leaving friends, security, a familiar culture and surroundings, his language and in fact everything he had ever known to follow this God that he barely knew and go to a place he had never even heard of.
And he went. On this Independence Day weekend, we are keenly reminded of others before us who left family, friends, familiar culture and surroundings and their security to venture forth to a new land where they could start a new life. Some came for financial reasons, some came for the adventure, and some came for religious freedom whom we know as the Pilgrims.
Through out our history people from around the world have made their way to our shores looking for a better life: for financial prosperity, for political and religious freedom, to escape oppression, or war, or famine. Some of you have left your native land to make your way to America’s shores. If we go back far enough all of us are immigrants to this land.
As many of you know my maternal grandparents came to America in the early 1900s seeking a better life. They left their parents and family, friends, language, and all their security. My great-grandmother with her two teenage sons boarded the Lusitania and arrived at Ellis Island on November 7, 1907. Just a couple weeks ago I received in the mail the Welsh Bible that my great uncle was given a couple days before they set sail to the New World.
Now it takes a certain amount of daring-do and faith to make such a major change in your life. The faith Abram had was a trailblazing faith. He did not have the privilege of following the path that others who had gone before. As difficult it was for my great-grandmother to leave Hirwain, Wales, she was coming to America to meet my great-grandfather and other family members who had come earlier.
Hebrews 11:1 reads, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” The faith we are speaking of is not blind-faith, but a faith based on what others have known and experienced. The faith we appropriate for ourselves is one that others have given testimony to and so we know that we too can journey with God in faith.
It is true that the personal particulars of our journey are unknown, and they are different for each one of us—surprise turns, roadblocks, detours, accidents, wrong turns, as well as scenic rest stops and of course the Cracker Barrel restaurants along the way.
“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Who of us would sign up for a plan like that? The new country might sound good, but Abram didn’t even know where this new country was! God only said, “Start walking and I will lead you to it!” Most of us would be scared to death to respond to a call like that. In fact it would feed into all of our fears:
- Walk away from home that I worked hard to build
- Abandon my job and career that gives me identity
- Leave my family and support
- Let go of any fall back plan
- Leave all this without any idea of where I am going and with no plan, to be a blessing I know nothing about, just because God says so?
Right! And do I have a bridge to sell you in Arizona!
Abram is the Bible’s great example of living and acting by faith. As we look at Abram’s life there are some great eternal truths:
- The excellence of faith is not in itself but in the object of that faith. Abram put his faith in the living God and His promises.
- The journey with God doesn’t come with a detailed plan and may not even have a clear destination.
- It takes faith to take risks.
- It takes faith to give up control.
- It takes faith to keep going when you’ve lost all that makes you secure and comfortable.
- It takes faith to stake your life on something you cannot see nor prove.
Are you being held back because of your fears? Has God asked you to do something crazy, unwise, foolish or downright scary? Do you have difficulty getting out of your comfort zone and security?
The great experiment we call America began because people put aside their fears, broke out of their security and more than anything else desired freedom. It is ironic that we are living in an America today that, more and more, seeks and desires security over freedom, comfort over risk taking, familiarity over the unknown, and for somebody else to take care of us.
We don’t see this kind of journey in God’s Word. What we see from Genesis on to the pages of Revelation is adventure, risk-taking, doing the undoable, going where no man has ever gone before, breaking out of the box, accomplishing great things because our God has called us to follow Him into our tomorrows.
What risk is God asking you to take? What fear is He asking you to overcome? Where is Jesus leading and taking you? Are you following by faith in obedience?
Listen to what God told Joshua after Moses had died, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)