Sometimes God requires for us to leap with the expectation that the net will appear.
However, in my walk so far my willingness to follow Him has relied more in my trust in the path He has set before me, than a cliff He’s positioned me to jump off of.
I think my perception of faith for the longest time was that I would close my eyes and hope for the best, but that’s not faith as much as it’s wishful thinking.
Our faith is not a passive thing.
Often faith looks more like a combination of trust, obedience and action.
Genesis 12: 1-4 takes place after the story of Babel and a genealogy that begins with Shem, a son of Noah and concludes with the death of Terah, Abram's father. Let's take a look:
"1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran."
Every time I read these verses I am fascinated at Abram's level of faith. God tells him to leave his family, his home and everyone he knows to travel to a place not yet specified. As a result of that obedience God tells Abram that he will not only be blessed, but that he will be a blessing and that through him all families of the earth will be blessed.
Abram's response?
OK.
I know for a fact that God has given me more specific instructions accompanied by more than a sliver of information and my response at best has still been, " But God, are you sure?"
God gave Abram a command and a list of the benefits that would follow his obedience and Abram's faith was strong enough that he acted without hesitation.
I know that in Abram's shoes, I wouldn't have been able to see past the commandment to the benefits and blessings, because I would be stuck on the fact that He was telling me to leave my family!
How many times have we forfeited the promises of God because we couldn't get out of our own way to see the benefits of our obedience?
Are you familiar with this image?
Does it resonate with you like it does me?
How often have we held onto things, people, locations, attitudes, etc. because we love them? Because we trust the history of it, over the history of our Savior?
Our introduction into who Abram was as a man in the lineage of Jesus was an act of profound faith. We don't know who he was before this moment, but we certainly know who he became after it.
Who are you on the other side of your faith?
The recorded history of Abram's life is so significant that he is listed as an example of faith in Hebrews 11: 8-10
"8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
It was so nice, God had it written twice.
Faith isn't just aimlessly hoping that things will turn out fine, it isn't throwing darts in the dark and hoping you make your target. It is intentional obedience to God's instruction, trusting that God will do what He said He would do as you walk toward His promises.
I challenge you today to walk in faith. I challenge you to seek God's instruction and be obedient to it, to walk in the knowledge of the benefits of your obedience.
I challenge you to discover who you are on the other side of your faith.