TRUST AND OBEY

"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." So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there." Genesis 12:1-5

Imagine that you awake tomorrow morning and the first thing that happens is the Lord greeting you and giving you an order to leave your country, your people, your house and go to a land where He will show you. He goes on to tell you that He will make you a great nation, make your name great and will bless you. How would you respond to this?

I don’t know about you but this would be a serious change in plans for me. I would be expected to report to my Navy command for duty and not showing up would result in me being in trouble. Disciplinary action would be taken and I may even end up being discharged from military service. And what about the mortgage on my home. How would that get paid if I’m not working as I set out to the place where God wants me to go? I will surely lose my home and everything I have worked so hard for. I would also have abandon my obligations at church. Someone would have to take over my Sunday School class and cover my spot in the choir to include the solos I so often perform. I’m sure there are more things I am forgetting but you get the point. Could the Lord really expect me to just up and leave?

In considering all this, we can really appreciate Abram and what he had to face as God did command him to leave his country, his people, and his father’s household…which amounted to his entire inheritance to go to a foreign land that God would show him. We see that he responded with no excuses, no rebuttals, just pure faith. Scripture tells us that "Abram left, as the Lord had told him." Abram responded with exceptional obedience and he was no spring chicken. At age seventy five, he was probably just ready to settle down with Sarai and enjoy his later years but God had other plans.

In considering Abram and how God used him, we need to understand that God could call us to do anything at anytime…and He will not be expecting a myriad of excuses from us as to why we can’t carry out His will. Like Abram, we need to respond in faith, knowing that God will take care of us and our matters. Getting back to my anxieties, I would have to trust that God would handle my military situation and cover my absence. I would have to trust that he would take care of my home and its disposition. I would have to trust that He would call another to step in and cover my church obligations. I would have to trust God to take care of me as He always does. For that’s what Abram did and God did not disappoint. He’ll do the same for you and I. We need only trust and obey.

In Christ,

Mark

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