Hey Gang:
Does that ring your bell? 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 there along the way.”
How did Abraham respond to
this incredible word from the Lord? “By faith Abraham, when he was called,
obeyed by going out into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance
obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8).
What was God up to? Why would he search the nations for one man,
and then tell him to forsake everything and go on a journey with no map, no
pre-conceived 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.”
What an incredible thing God
was commanding. He told Abraham, in
essence, “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. I’m asking you to
commit your life to a promise that I am making to you, Abraham. If you will commit to do this, I will bless
you, guide you, and lead you to a place your never imagined”!
The place where God wanted to
lead Abraham is a place He wants to take every member of Christ’s body. Abraham, in to Bible scholars, is referred
to as a “pattern man,” someone who serves as an example of how to walk before the
Lord. And Abraham’s example shows us
what is required of all who would seek to please God.
Make
no mistake, Abraham was not a young man when God called him to make this commitment. He was uncle to Lot, and probably had roots
so deep in where he was that he would never just get up, pack and go to a place
he had no idea where he was going.
Security of family was always first concern to the patriarch of the
family.
It
would mean separating his family from their relatives and friends and having to
trust God completely to provide for them all.
Yet Abraham, “Believed in the
Lord; and (God) counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen 15:6).
The apostle Paul tells us that
all who believe and trust in Christ are the children of Abraham. In short, we
are a people who please God by trusting him.
And, like Abraham, those who do are counted as righteous because we heed
the same call to entrust all our tomorrows into the Lord’s hands as Abraham
did.
So, we ask how does his fit
into my walk with the Lord today? Simply
stated, Jesus also calls us to this way of living - giving no thought about
tomorrow and putting our future into his hands.
In His Sermon on the Mount He taught “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall
we eat? Or, what shall we drink? Or
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” (For
all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that ye
have need of all these things. But
seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things
will be added unto you. Take therefore
no thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought of the things of
itself” (Matt 6:31-34).
Jesus doesn’t mean that we’re
not to plan ahead, or do nothing about our future; rather, He is saying, “Don’t be anxious or
troubled about tomorrow.” If
Jesus were here with you right now He would say don’t worry about yesterday’s
problems, nor tomorrows, there is nothing you can do about either, but you can
do something about today – put your problems in the hand of the One who stills
the waters.
Blessings,
Gramps
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