Genesis 12:1-3
The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and I will make you a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12:4
So Abram left, as the Lord had told him.
Have you ever wanted something so badly, say an iPod, and you tell your dad to get it for you but he just laughed. Then a week later he told you to paint the house then he will get you that iPod. But inside you, doubts arise, “Dad was laughing away as if I was crazy when I asked him for that iPod and now he wants to get it for me if I paint the house? Is this for real?”
Abraham was probably in that kind of situation. Just that he did not asked for anything and suddenly one day God told him to leave everything and go.
But go where?
God appeared to Abram one day and gave him orders to leave his country, his people, his father’s household and go to the land God will show him. And Abram left! Abram (later named Abraham) was a man of faith and he had great faith in God. God told him to leave and he did. The amazing thing was God did not give Abraham specific location on where to go, God just said, “Go to the land I will show you.” Through this sentence we can smartly conclude that God have not told Abraham where to go yet. But because of Abraham’s faith in God, he left – heading to nowhere.
Act of trust or foolishness?
Notice how many “I will” there is in the passages above. There are 7 “I will”, the number seven is the number of divine perfection. And with seven “I will”, God completed His message to Abraham and now it was up to Abraham whether to trust God or not. Abraham left just as God had told him. Was he foolish in doing that?
Let us read this Scripture:
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Aha! Hello? Ring ring? =) Faith is being sure of what we hope for, being certain and sure of what we do not see. See? So after all Abraham the great man of faith was not acting out of foolishness. He lived up to his faith.
And out of faith and trust, Abraham left and God blessed Abraham just as He had promised. God gave Abraham a great future because Abraham had faith in God and obeyed in faith.
One of the common worries we all face everyday is the fear of the unknown, we fear about our future, we do not know what or how is it going to be. Will I be successful? Will have a good job? Will I have a beautiful family? Will I earn enough to support my family? Will I? Will I? Will I? Will I?...
Will I versus I Will.
We question “Will I?” and you know what? God says, “I will.” God holds our future! Like Abraham, God already know ahead of time what were His plans for Abraham. God knows your future. But people ask, “If God knows our future? Why then do I still see many people’s lives being so wretched?” Well I don’t blame people for asking me that question and doubting God’s assurance. Everywhere I see, I see people getting into financial situation, then resort to borrowing money from money lenders and fail to pay back, and then the money lenders go after their families and etc etc. Where is the future for these people? What went wrong?
I Will versus Will I.
When God told Abraham to leave and told him, “I will... I will… I will…” You see, God gave the instruction and it was now Abraham to make the decision. Abraham probably asked, “Will I follow God’s instructions?”Do you see the pattern; there was an act of obedience in Abraham’s situation. God promised, and Abraham listened and obeyed in faith.
God has a good plan for each and every one of us but now will you take the first step to gaining that promise from God - the first step of obedience and trust that Abraham made?
God will bring you to where He has destined you to be IF only you will have faith in Him. And through your faith, you must act in obedience. If we do not obey, God will not bring. If Abraham did not obey, God will not force, God will take someone else. But because Abraham obeyed, God used him and through Abraham, all of his descendants were blessed.
So what now?
God knows your future. Will you then have faith and obey Him and do whatever He asks of you? Read your Bible, discover God’s plan for you. All the answers are right there.
Read, hear, obey and be blessed.
Hebrews 11:1
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Faithfully God’s,
Zlwin Chew.
Are you certain you will see me being the President of the United States of America? Haha =)
