Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:7-8
Why God chooses to use some individuals, and seemingly ignores those with far greater talents, is always something which defies human logic. The fact is that God often uses those who have little to recommend them when it comes to entitlement through education, family connections, and even intelligence. Yet the biographies of those who have made a mark for God indicates that they share three common traits: 1) They respond to God’s call in their lives. 2) Their simple faith in God is marked by complete obedience, and 3) What they have, they give to the Lord completely and without reservation.
Such was a man who lived centuries ago, whose name was Abraham. Called by God, he took his family and his possessions and set out on a long trek through the desert to a place which God had promised. An interesting comment found in the book of Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed, and went even though he did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8). Did you notice that last phrase, “he did not know where he was going”?
Now, for a minute, consider how all of this must have looked to Abraham’s friends and neighbors. Do you suppose conversations went something like this?
“Say, Abe, we noticed that you folks are packing. Where are you headed?”
“I really don’t know,” Abe replies, “We’re just following the Lord.”
“Really? Well, how are you going to make it? I mean, earn a living?”
“Not sure of that either.”
“So, what’s your five-year plan?”
“Don’t have one. We’re just following God one step at a time.”
Whenever someone steps out in faith to trust God, he is going to appear out of step with the crowd. More than one person has been called a fool when he or she walked away from the comforts of life to follow the Almighty. When called a fool for what he was doing, Oswald Chambers responded, “I am not many kinds of fools in one; only one kind, the kind that believes and obeys God.”
Have you learned, friend, that obedience does not require you to have the full knowledge of the game plan? It only requires that you have complete confidence in He whom you are following. When you come to the place where you believe with all of your heart that God can be trusted, and no matter how foolish it may appear to others, you make the commitment to trust Him and serve Him, you’re going to hear from some who will ridicule you and try to make you feel stupid.
When Mrs. Albert Einstein was once asked if she understood the theory of relativity, she replied, “No, but I know my husband does, and I know that Albert can be trusted.” Faith demands commitment at the level of your heart; obedience demands commitment at the level of your feet. You see, there are two parts to this issue of faith. The first is intellectual. This concerns what you believe. But the second, more important, is trust, and that involves action. Of Abraham, the Bible says, “He obeyed … and he went.”
For the child of God, obedience is not an option. It’s a command, and when you are confronted with a command, you have two choices: to obey, or disobey. There is no third choice.
A closing thought. Abraham was not perfect, but he was obedient, and God rewarded that obedience in a very large way.
Resource Reading: Hebrews 13:1-8
