Unleashed: As You Go – Pray – FBC Peachtree City

The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12:1

Why don’t you stop and ask directions? Only married couples can fully appreciate this question! Let’s face it, very few of us want to admit that we don’t know how to get somewhere. All of us have been lost at one time or another and finally had to stop to ask. Unfortunately, once you get directions, you may still not know where you are going.

While living in Kenya, I often observed people asking directions to the Karen area of Nairobi, named after Karen Blixen of “Out of Africa” fame. The answer was simple enough, “You turn at the intersection with the big tree in the middle of the road.” However, if you followed your own directions, when you do get to the intersection with the big tree to turn right, you realize there isn’t a tree. Yes, there was a tree at one point but it was cut down years ago. Yet those familiar with the area and the tree continue to use the tree as the landmark for turning.

If you need directions, it is always better to get someone to guide you who knows the way. An old Ugandan proverb sums it up well: “If the owner of the land leads you, you cannot get lost.” This is why Abraham could trust the “owner” of the land when he heard the command to leave the land. Abraham wasn’t asked just to move houses; he was to leave country, culture, people group and family. He didn’t know where he was going, just the command – “Go!”.

Abraham could have stayed in his comfort zone and continued to live life as Abram. He had land, money and prestige. He could have enjoyed his retirement years. He didn’t know what was ahead, except he had faith in the owner of the land. He had complete trust that God would lead him to a new home. Abram believed God’s promise of:

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you.

I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;

And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Gen 12:2-3

Abram packed his bags, loaded his possessions and with his family left their home and set out for parts unknown. The journey wasn’t easy. Abram made mistakes on the way and didn’t always display the qualities of a godly leader, but God saw in him a man He could use. Abram knew that the only way forward was to follow the “owner of the land” on his journey.

Life would have been easy for Abram if he hadn’t moved, yet he would have missed the blessing of being a great nation. He could have stayed Abram but generations who followed would not have been blessed. Yet God kept working in Abram until that day when God was able to say, “no longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.“ Gen 17:5

Centuries would pass. Wars would be fought, fields planted, crops harvested, marriages performed, babies born and deaths suffered. Yet the promise continued, the blessings poured out and people worshiped the true God. Finally, the day would come when the writer of Hebrews would pen the words, “By faith Abraham, when called…. obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” Heb 11:8

Ernest Blandly and his wife, Eliza, heard that uncomfortable call and immigrated to the United States in 1884, following the call to live in the Manhattan, New York slum called “Hell’s Kitchen.” There he would write the hymn:

“I can hear my Savior calling, I can hear my Savior calling, I can hear my Savior calling,

Take thy cross and follow, follow me.

Where he leads me I will follow,

I’ll go with him, with him all the way.”

What about you? What about me? What will we do when we hear our Savior calling? “Where he leads me I will follow” may often seem difficult and challenging, yet we go because we trust the owner of the land to guide us, we will never be lost. As we yield to Jesus as our Savior and Lord, our identity is transformed and we respond to Jesus’ promise that, “when My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. “John 10:27

God is great,

Pastor Lynn