Faith and Obedience
This is why Abraham is called the Father of faith: He heard from God and obeyed Him immediately, without hesitating. Genesis 12: 1-9
He was not a young man at seventy-five years old but he and Sarai packed up all their worldly possessions and headed off to an unknown destination.
It is hard enough leaving a secure place of employment. Especially when you have secured years of faithful service and have a nice pension package building up for you when are due to retire, then to leave it and to start all over again at the bottom of the firm or company!
I have been a farmer for most of my life and started with very little. Building up a farm with a faithful team and building a comfortable house for my family, most of whom were born on the farm. Having established a beautiful herd of cattle, fertile arable fields lovingly built over 40 years with magnificent trees, that my dear wife Jill planted as seedlings, now grown into a lovely shady garden. To have a Word from God through the Bible and confirmed through prophetic words spoken through trusted friends, to leave everything and to move, is a huge step to take.
To make things much worse and to require even more faith - is to leave everything behind and to travel to an unknown destination, now that takes a huge amount of faith. No wonder Abraham is rightfully known in the Bible as the ‘Father of Faith’.
Before you or I attempt something of this enormous undertaking we have to be in right relationship with God. The Bible must become so much more to us than just a rough guideline to the issues of life. It has to become the very heart and soul of our faith and our existence - a living organism (the living Word) so that when God issues a directive, it does not come as a shock to us. But rather just the next step on a journey that is eventually going to lead us home to heaven.
That is why we see in the book of James 2:23, that Abraham is called the ‘Friend of God’. "Why?", we might ask. Well, because He obeyed God instantly - no grumbling, no doubting, just simply packed up all his worldly possessions and moved off his beloved farm.
He headed off towards an unknown destination because He trusted his Heavenly Father so much that he knew the safest place to be, in this troubled and turbulent world, was right in the midst of Jehovah’s perfect will!
So then Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17.
To make such a huge decision to move from your home, like Abram and Sarai, can be very traumatic, to say the least. But knowing God, through daily reading and meditating on His beautiful written word (the Bible), makes leaving your comfort zone all that much easier.
Most importantly, note that Abraham left alone, with his wife and nephew, not with the whole tribe! In other words, just because other folks are leaving that does not mean you have to leave. Or because your neighbours are staying, does not mean you have to stay. Just do what Jesus tells you to do, no more and no less. Then prepare yourself for the inevitable miracle which is on its way.
“Whatever He says to you, do it.”
God Bless,
Angus and Jill Buchan.