Going Where God Leads

MEMORY SELECTION: “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.” —Hebrews 11:8

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Genesis 12:1-9

ABRAHAM is known as “the father of the faithful.” He attained this stature because of his obedience under difficult and trying circumstances. God developed and tested Abraham’s faith by many experiences, and leaving his homeland without knowing where the Lord was leading him was the first of these experiences.

Apparently after the Flood the descendants of Noah soon reverted to idol worship, for we read in Joshua 24:2, “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.” But Abraham, in spite of this evil influence, believed God, and therefore God could use him as a servant.

There is much in archeological discoveries to indicate that Ur of the Chaldees was a prosperous city, and apparently Abraham shared in this prosperity. It is hard for us to appreciate fully the difficult test of faith that this call of the Lord must have been. It involved leaving an established way of life, with security, and embarking on a totally new way of existence as a nomad, with no security or protection except as provided by the Lord. He did not even know where or how far he was to go.

God’s instructions to Abraham were, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.”

Abraham’s faithful obedience to the Lord’s call is given as an example to the Christian in Hebrews, the 11th chapter. We can appreciate the analogy, for when the Lord calls us we too are asked to give up all earthly ties, even to families and friends, and to entrust our lives to the leadings and overruling providences of the Lord.

In Matthew 10:36-39 Jesus states, And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”

The thought is, of course, that the Christian must cut all earthly ties so that nothing interferes with the Lord’s requirement: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”—Matt. 22:37

Just as the Lord promised Abraham that he would have great rewards if he was faithful, so Jesus also promises rewards to his followers who are faithful. We read in Luke 18:28-30, “Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.’’

In Hebrews 11:10 the apostle tells us of the hope that sustained Abraham through all of his trials and testings. “For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

Abraham apparently realized that the arrangement that he had left in Ur was not to be compared with the government, or arrangement, that will prevail when God’s kingdom is established here in the earth. And apparently he looked forward to his place in that kingdom as it had been revealed to him by God.

Again the Apostle Paul, in Hebrews 13:14, compares the experience of Abraham to that of the true follower of Jesus: For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to conic.” That is, the true follower of Jesus is a stranger and sojourner in the land now, and his citizenship is not here, but in a city, or government, that is to he established in the future—the kingdom of God.

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