Abraham is known as our father of believing. Romans 4:21 tells us that he was fully persuaded that God was willing and able to perform His promises. Jesus Christ has told us that with God all things are possible, and most of us recognize His awesome power, but when it comes to trusting in His willingness to perform His promises in our lives, some of us struggle a bit. We know that He CAN do it, but we’re often not convinced that He will do it for us. This is one of the chief reasons that Abraham is such a tremendous example of right believing, because he shows us how to trust God when our conditions and circumstances seem far from optimal.
In Genesis 12:1 (NLT), God spoke to Abraham and said “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” Understanding a little bit of context here will deepen our appreciation of Abraham’s situation. He was a man of significant wealth by Old Testament standards. He had plenty of cattle and livestock, lots of land, and a slew of servants to help with everything. When a person was uprooted from one area in an effort to move to another one, every transportable thing they owned moved as well. No cars mind you. They traveled on foot and by caravans of camels and donkeys. So moving was a huge undertaking. Not to mention that this was a time when large communities were members of one family, and they were close knit. Given this, we can understand that moving to another territory could be a huge undertaking for Abraham, and something that wasn’t taken lightly.
Genesis 12:4 (NLT) tells us, “So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.” Abraham, whose name was changed by God from Abram, was obedient to God’s instructions. How many of us would respond the same way today? Many of us would be skeptical and wonder if it was really God that spoke to us. We might reason that the request from God seems irrational and inconvenient. We love our comfort zones and would prefer to stay in them, but this can never be the case for a Christian. Faith will require us to stretch beyond our comfort zones.
When we believe we’ve heard the instruction of the Lord to make a move or change directions in our lives, but our conditions and circumstances make it seem virtually impossible, many of us struggle to discern. We may not be sure we’ve heard His voice. In our effort to know definitively that we’re hearing from God to make a move, one of the things that we must always bear in mind is that God will never deviate from His Word. He would not tell us to do something that isn’t going to bless us in life. His desire is that we be abundantly blessed at all times. This may not be our reality, but it is always God’s heart that we be blessed. We can know confidently that wherever He leads us, ultimately it will end up being better for us than we can ever imagine.
Here’s something else that we should consider when our conditions and circumstances might seem completely opposed to what God is requiring us to do; if the call to move is really from God, He will always make a way for us to get it done. Activation in purpose is like the parting of the Red Sea in the Old Testament. God’s provision is such that the way is made before we even receive the directive. So even though family and friends may be discouraging, our financial resources may be tight, and it just might seem totally out in left field to move as the Spirit is leading us, we will clearly see the hand of God making a way forward, and He will make it apparent to us in a way that only He can.
In 2Corinthians 12:9 (NLT) God said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” This will help stir up courage in us. Things may look impossible, but God is working things out. Faith requires us to trust God even when things don’t look as though they’re working out. Any time that we follow God’s divine directives, He’s going to give us another page to add to our catalog of believing and faith. As His children, we walk by faith and not by sight. This lets us know that we can’t lean completely on what we see. We cannot lean solely on our understanding, because we can never see and know the whole story. God wants us to lean totally and completely on Him, just as Abraham had to do. Heavenly Father will help us have confidence and courage to move according to His divine directive, and we will know we’re on the right track because He will reward our obedience.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
“Discerning God’s Divine Directive” written by JMack. 4theChristianMan.Com© 2017. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.