Right Foot, Left Foot - The Faith Journey of Abraham
When Abraham was seventy-five years old, God confronted him with a great promise, that Abraham would become a great nation. What an amazing promise - not just that Abraham would have a nice house or large heard of goats, but that he would be the start of a great nation. People joke about being rich enough to buy an island and start their own country. That's nothing compared to the promises given to Abraham.
This obviously wasn't going to happen overnight. But where to begin? Having a son would be a start - which at age seventy-five was going to take some supernatural intervention.
Abraham certainly had questions when God gave him this promise. How will this be? What do I need to do? When we're confronted with promises from God we have the same questions. Where will I meet the spouse you promised me? When will the door open to be a missionary? How will I see great miracles being worked through me?
We can learn an important lesson from the life of Abraham. Faith is a journey. Paul likened faith to walking - you get there one step after another (2 Cor. 5:7). When God promised Abraham nationhood, the first instructions God gave him was to "go forth" (Genesis 12:1). What a simple first step! God didn't tell Abraham to start thinking of the colors of the future Israeli flag or to start coming up with words for a national anthem. God didn't even tell him to start looking for some good real estate. God just told Abraham to get up and move to a place He would show him.
Abraham obeyed. It took faith to leave behind his family, but not nearly as enough faith as it would one day take to conceive a son in his advanced age - and certainly not as much faith as Abraham would eventually need to offer his only son on an altar to God. This is an essential point. What if God 's first instructions to Abraham was to sacrifice a son he already had? Would Abraham still be known as the father of faith? Or would that weighty command cause Abraham to stumble before he even got going? Faith for obedience usually starts small like a seed, but will grow. Abraham's willingness to offer his son was an important step along his journey of faith towards becoming a great nation, but it wasn't the first step.
Abraham didn't know where he was going when he first set out, but God was surely guiding his paths, because he ended up in the exact right spot - in Canaan. Yet, after Abraham arrived in the land God promised to give him, a famine came upon the land and Abraham had to travel down to Egypt. Why did things get more difficult for Abraham when he got to the place he was supposed to be? We often look longingly to our future promises, dreaming of how great it will be when I'm pastor of my own church or when I'm married with children. But what often happens when we get there is that we are confronted with more challenges than before we received the promise. Why does God allow this? Oftentimes it could be that God wants to make sure that we will continue to trust Him after we have received the promises we have been believing for. We are not freed from faith once we receive the promises. We are not supposed to "take it from there" and start operating out of our own abilities.
God continued to watch over Abraham in the midst of these detours, and even in the midst of Abraham's weaknesses. By the time Abraham made it back to the land of Canaan, his wealth had increased. Abraham had become equipped to dwell securely in his new nation state. Abraham was coming closer to the promise of becoming a great nation.
God continued to appear to Abraham, encouraging him and reminding him of the promises. This is important for us as well, especially if we have not seen the promises we have been hoping for. We need reminders of what God has spoken to us through his Word.
As God continued to reaffirm His promises, He also gave Abraham more detailed instructions on what to do to fulfill the promises. In one of these sessions, God instituted the covenant of circumcision. I can imagine Abraham's uneasy look as God described to him this painful ritual. I'm sure it took a little bit of extra faith for Abraham to accept this practice. I can imagine Abraham wondering "am I sure I heard that correctly, it sounded like God asked me to cut off part of my..." This was another radical step of faith and obedience Abraham had to walk in - perhaps a step he wouldn't have been able to take had God instituted circumcision at the time of His very first appearance to Abraham. As Abraham continued to walk with God, God continued to reveal more and more of the details of His will for Abraham's life. In the beginning God promised to make Abraham into a great nation. By the time God revealed the covenant of circumcision, God told Abraham He would make him the father of a multitude of nations. (Genesis 17:5)
With each step, Abraham's faith grew, and so did the challenges he faced. It didn't take tremendous faith to get up and start traveling. Abraham's first step with God was rather simple. With circumcision, the challenge increased a little more. This step would cost Abraham a little more than a few extra blisters on his feet, yet Abraham's growing faith prepared him to respond properly to this new instruction. When it came to conceiving the promised son, this was the first step that required definite supernatural intervention for success. Sarah was beyond the age of fertility, which is why Abraham and Sarah first concocted a means of obtaining the son through natural means. Despite this detour, Abraham returned to his walk of faith when God reaffirmed that the child would come through his wife Sarah. They took the necessary steps to conceive, despite the limitations of their physical bodies - and a child was born.
The next big step of faith was probably the most challenging step for Abraham, yet the growth Abraham experienced in walking with God up to this point prepared him to make the ultimate sacrifice. Abraham followed God's command to sacrifice his son Isaac. We would be fooling ourselves if we thought Abraham took that step with stoic faced determination. The whole promise of nationhood hinged on the life of his son. This was a very difficult step of faith. Abraham's previous track record of obedient faith prepared him to take this one, and God came through by sparing the life of Isaac. Following this act of obedience, God reaffirmed His promise that He would make Abraham into a great nation.
The progression of the faith walk should serve as an excellent model for us. We have promises and goals that we want to see accomplished in our life. We have "great nation" type of goals, yet we don't often achieve them in one step. God typically lays out a series of faith steps that lead to the grand goal. Oftentimes we won't see the fulfillment of the main promise if we are not faithful in following the steps leading up to it. So, if we want to see God's destiny for our lives fulfilled, we need to pay close attention to the steps of faith along the way. If you want to walk in the impossible and the supernatural, begin by taking the little steps of faith. If you want to see people raised from the dead, start by praying for people with colds. Obey the little steps of faith that you know are directly in front of you. If you continue to take it step by step, you'll eventually find yourself in exactly the place that you always hoped to be.
When Abraham was seventy-five years old, God confronted him with a great promise, that Abraham would become a great nation. What an amazing promise - not just that Abraham would have a nice house or large heard of goats, but that he would be the start of a great nation. People joke about being rich enough to buy an island and start their own country. That's nothing compared to the promises given to Abraham.
This obviously wasn't going to happen overnight. But where to begin? Having a son would be a start - which at age seventy-five was going to take some supernatural intervention.
Abraham certainly had questions when God gave him this promise. How will this be? What do I need to do? When we're confronted with promises from God we have the same questions. Where will I meet the spouse you promised me? When will the door open to be a missionary? How will I see great miracles being worked through me?
We can learn an important lesson from the life of Abraham. Faith is a journey. Paul likened faith to walking - you get there one step after another (2 Cor. 5:7). When God promised Abraham nationhood, the first instructions God gave him was to "go forth" (Genesis 12:1). What a simple first step! God didn't tell Abraham to start thinking of the colors of the future Israeli flag or to start coming up with words for a national anthem. God didn't even tell him to start looking for some good real estate. God just told Abraham to get up and move to a place He would show him.
Abraham obeyed. It took faith to leave behind his family, but not nearly as enough faith as it would one day take to conceive a son in his advanced age - and certainly not as much faith as Abraham would eventually need to offer his only son on an altar to God. This is an essential point. What if God 's first instructions to Abraham was to sacrifice a son he already had? Would Abraham still be known as the father of faith? Or would that weighty command cause Abraham to stumble before he even got going? Faith for obedience usually starts small like a seed, but will grow. Abraham's willingness to offer his son was an important step along his journey of faith towards becoming a great nation, but it wasn't the first step.
Abraham didn't know where he was going when he first set out, but God was surely guiding his paths, because he ended up in the exact right spot - in Canaan. Yet, after Abraham arrived in the land God promised to give him, a famine came upon the land and Abraham had to travel down to Egypt. Why did things get more difficult for Abraham when he got to the place he was supposed to be? We often look longingly to our future promises, dreaming of how great it will be when I'm pastor of my own church or when I'm married with children. But what often happens when we get there is that we are confronted with more challenges than before we received the promise. Why does God allow this? Oftentimes it could be that God wants to make sure that we will continue to trust Him after we have received the promises we have been believing for. We are not freed from faith once we receive the promises. We are not supposed to "take it from there" and start operating out of our own abilities.
God continued to watch over Abraham in the midst of these detours, and even in the midst of Abraham's weaknesses. By the time Abraham made it back to the land of Canaan, his wealth had increased. Abraham had become equipped to dwell securely in his new nation state. Abraham was coming closer to the promise of becoming a great nation.
God continued to appear to Abraham, encouraging him and reminding him of the promises. This is important for us as well, especially if we have not seen the promises we have been hoping for. We need reminders of what God has spoken to us through his Word.
As God continued to reaffirm His promises, He also gave Abraham more detailed instructions on what to do to fulfill the promises. In one of these sessions, God instituted the covenant of circumcision. I can imagine Abraham's uneasy look as God described to him this painful ritual. I'm sure it took a little bit of extra faith for Abraham to accept this practice. I can imagine Abraham wondering "am I sure I heard that correctly, it sounded like God asked me to cut off part of my..." This was another radical step of faith and obedience Abraham had to walk in - perhaps a step he wouldn't have been able to take had God instituted circumcision at the time of His very first appearance to Abraham. As Abraham continued to walk with God, God continued to reveal more and more of the details of His will for Abraham's life. In the beginning God promised to make Abraham into a great nation. By the time God revealed the covenant of circumcision, God told Abraham He would make him the father of a multitude of nations. (Genesis 17:5)
With each step, Abraham's faith grew, and so did the challenges he faced. It didn't take tremendous faith to get up and start traveling. Abraham's first step with God was rather simple. With circumcision, the challenge increased a little more. This step would cost Abraham a little more than a few extra blisters on his feet, yet Abraham's growing faith prepared him to respond properly to this new instruction. When it came to conceiving the promised son, this was the first step that required definite supernatural intervention for success. Sarah was beyond the age of fertility, which is why Abraham and Sarah first concocted a means of obtaining the son through natural means. Despite this detour, Abraham returned to his walk of faith when God reaffirmed that the child would come through his wife Sarah. They took the necessary steps to conceive, despite the limitations of their physical bodies - and a child was born.
The next big step of faith was probably the most challenging step for Abraham, yet the growth Abraham experienced in walking with God up to this point prepared him to make the ultimate sacrifice. Abraham followed God's command to sacrifice his son Isaac. We would be fooling ourselves if we thought Abraham took that step with stoic faced determination. The whole promise of nationhood hinged on the life of his son. This was a very difficult step of faith. Abraham's previous track record of obedient faith prepared him to take this one, and God came through by sparing the life of Isaac. Following this act of obedience, God reaffirmed His promise that He would make Abraham into a great nation.
The progression of the faith walk should serve as an excellent model for us. We have promises and goals that we want to see accomplished in our life. We have "great nation" type of goals, yet we don't often achieve them in one step. God typically lays out a series of faith steps that lead to the grand goal. Oftentimes we won't see the fulfillment of the main promise if we are not faithful in following the steps leading up to it. So, if we want to see God's destiny for our lives fulfilled, we need to pay close attention to the steps of faith along the way. If you want to walk in the impossible and the supernatural, begin by taking the little steps of faith. If you want to see people raised from the dead, start by praying for people with colds. Obey the little steps of faith that you know are directly in front of you. If you continue to take it step by step, you'll eventually find yourself in exactly the place that you always hoped to be.
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