Have you ever felt upside down in life asking will I ever get through this situation? Brian Wolf of Sugar Grove, Oregon sure did. While taking target practice at some cans in the woods Brian reached behind a large tree stump to pick up the cans and he fell into the stump head first. For the next six hours Brian yelled for help, but no one could hear him.
After dark his family reported him missing. The forest service found his parked truck and they searched with flashlights and were suddenly surprised to see two boots sticking up out of a tree stump. They carefully pulled him out and he was fine. According to
Brian the hardest and embarrassing part was explaining to his small town how it happened.
Have you ever cried out for help, but no one was listening?
When Abraham’s life was upside down he made mistakes to be sure, yet many other times he trusted God despite how difficult his situation. He learned from his miscues and developed a deeper trust along the way. Abraham is listed among the other heroes of faith in Hebrews eleven.
Who is a hero of faith anyway? Is it someone who can quote chapter and verse and has all the theological answers? I think Jim Cymbala has a better definition.
“The deepest believers are the ones who are bent over because they are leaning so heavily into their relationship with God, knowing that they can do nothing without utter dependence on Christ. The greatest Christian is not the one who has achieved the most but rather the one who has received the most. God’s grace, love and mercy flow through the people the most that walk in total dependence.”
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. Genesis 12:1
Abraham obeyed God and left all that was familiar to him, his home, his friends, his favorite eating establishments while not knowing where he was going. Say again Abraham, how does that work? When he left home he had no detailed map or an exact address for his GPS.
Abraham trusted God with an unknown future.
Even when we do have a definitive location with a GPS and our plans are mapped out our futures can still be very uncertain. Life takes a turn we didn’t plan on.
Man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps. Prov.16:9
Before Abraham leaves his homeland God promises that He will bless him and make his name great and he’ll become a father of nations. Gen12:1-4 Jews, Muslims and Christians all count themselves as Abraham’s offspring. Have you ever been asked to leave a comfortable place to go to a place you’re really not sure of? If a stranger asked us to go somewhere we’ve never been before we’d probably say no way, but if it’s Someone who has proven they’re trustworthy we would be more inclined to say yes.
Along Abraham’s faith journey he lied about his wife Sarai to the Pharaoh to save his own neck. Like us, Abraham took steps forward in his faith, but he also took steps backwards as well. Now, that should give you and I some hope. As it was with Abraham God can also redeem our failings. People say Abraham had BIG faith, but he was nothing without the God of Abraham!
Abraham was looking for something more than just a new location.
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Heb.11:10
May we learn from Abraham to trust God with our unknown futures despite the hardship.
Join us next time as we explore more about Abraham’s faith and develop our faith as well.
