FOLLOWING GOD...part one

Acts 7:3-8"'Leave your country and your people,' God said, 'and go to the land I will show you.' So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way: 'Your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,' God said, 'and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.' Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs."

If you look at the Old Testament stories as picture examples of New Testament principles, you will find two major ways that God leads us. To keep it simple, I'm going to call these ways, "Following God, part 1" (FG1), and "Following God, part 2" (FG2 -- will be discussed in our next devotion).

Abraham was definitely a FG1 kind of person -- as reflected in verses 3 and 4. When God directed -- "Leave your country and your people," Abraham followed God without hesitation -- "So he left."

FG1 is usually simple -- "leave" and "go to" are typical instructions. The difficulty is in the second piece or unknown part of the instruction: leave -- your country and your people; go to -- the land I will show you. To put it in more relatable terms, to follow God: Abraham had to leave not just Laguna Niguel or California but the USA as well -- leaving behind family, friends, businesses, etc.; without knowing where he was going (God said He would show him, which didn't mean Abraham knew where he was going when he left). Try explaining that to your wife!

The other tricky component of FG1 is trusting in what appears to be the "crazy" or "unrealistic" promises that God makes. That statement might offend some people who would say with confidence, "I always trust and follow God," but let's face it sometimes it's hard to follow (or trust) when it just doesn't seem possible. Look at Abraham. God told him his descendants would inherit the land despite the fact Abraham was 75 years old and childless at the time. Twenty-four years later Abram (which means exalted father), still childless, was told to change his name to Abraham (which means father of many). Can you imagine the ridicule he must have endured when he did so? Here was a guy, childless at 99, with a wife who was 90, changing his name to father of many -- most people would think he was crazy. You see the problem with an FG1 promise is that God doesn't tell anyone else what he has promised you -- it is your promise only. Paul covers this concept in great detail in the 4th chapter of Romans. He sums it up in Romans 4:3, "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Fully trusting in God's direction is one of the most difficult aspects of Christian living, as sometimes it's hard to distinguish between an impulse and the direction of God. Jesus said in John 10:27, "My sheep listen to my voice, I know them and they follow me." The implication is if you know Jesus you will recognize his voice. When was the last time you heard Jesus' voice? Did you recognize His voice? Did you follow? Why or why not?

Learn to recognize His voice by faithfully listening to Him as He speaks to you through His Word. Why not open your Gospel of John now and hear what He has to say to you today?

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