“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your fathers’ household and go to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12: 1
I have so many characters from the Bible that I love. They teach us so many things as we learn about them and the life they led so many centuries ago. One of my favorites is Abraham. Every time I read his story; I am amazed. The first thing is his obedience to God’s call to go somewhere. No specific destination just go, and God will let him know when they have gotten to the destination God has in mind. I don’t know about any of you but I kinda like knowing where I am going before I leave. I want to know, so I know what to take with me, how I need to pack for the journey. For Abram, he is not Abraham yet, he hears God’s call to go somewhere, and then he goes. HE GOES without a clue where he is going.
The thing is: our lives are very similar to Abram. We really don’t have any idea about what tomorrow will bring. We don’t always know where we are heading. We might have a general idea about our life journey, but we don’t always have a clear destination in sight. We may even begin going in one direction and end up following a different path. Maybe that is why Robert Frost’s poem, Two Roads, is a favorite of mine. We make our choices and in making those choices we walk away from all the other choices we could have made. Just as Abram walked away from his life in the country of his youth to go where God called him to go.
But his obedience to God wasn’t the only remarkable part of Abram/Abraham’s life. You would think that if God was calling him and if he was obedient to God’s call that would be remarkable enough. But God also promised Abram a lot: God would make him a great nation, God would bless him, God would make his name great and much more, and in all those promises that would inspire Abram to always just be a great human being. A really good man who lived a devout life and did no wrong, right? Wrong. Abram/Abraham was a flawed human being just like we are. He lied about his wife saying she was his sister. He knew what the promise God made was and yet when Sarai/Sarah his wife didn’t want to wait any longer to have a child, she told Abram to sleep with her maid…and he did. He allowed Sarah to throw Hagar and Ishmael out of the tent. Remember they lived in a desert, there weren’t too many living options. And of course, there are other examples and yet even in his bad or questionable choices, God was faithful to Abram/Abraham.
Just as God is faithful to us. We seem to think that when we make bad choices, God walks away from us shaking God’s head in disgust. The reality is that we walk away from God. We no longer think we are worthy to receive anything God has to offer. And yet think about this: God created us. God knows us better than we know ourselves. God already knows everything we ever did. And GOD STILL LOVES US. So, why are we walking away from God when we need God the most in our lives? That my friends, is the million-dollar question. Because God never shakes his head in disgust at us. God chases after us, loving us, wanting a relationship with us, even sending his son to die for us. No matter what we have done, where we are in life, God is there loving us through Every. Single. Thing.
Just as God was faithful Abraham, God is faithful to us. God loves us and wants what is best for us. God will be there with us, even in our bad choices. God will help us as we work our way out of any choices we have made that aren’t working. God is the God who is there. In fact, we will never know just how deep God’s love for us is because the deeper we go into the love of God, we will experience that God’s love for us, goes even deeper. And that my friends is very good news!
May your day be blessed and may you experience the never-ending love of God in your life.
Peace,
Pastor Beth
Beth's Blog 