Trusting in God doesn’t mean you know all the details. It is this:
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, but God has me.”
You may not know what tomorrow will bring but you are content to move forward into it knowing He who has the details will show you when it is needed.
“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 v 8)
A simple verse but behind it (Genesis 11-12) is a man who had been experiencing grief. His brother, Haran had died in the family homeland of Ur. Sarai his wife was unable to conceive. The whole family had begun a journey to a better place to live but having arrived in Harran they settle there and do not move on and here his father, Terah, dies.
Grief and disappointment can be the catalysts to move but also to be not capable of moving anymore. How many times do we sadly hear a family say after an inquest to some reporter, ‘we request you leave us alone so we can move on’ or who are battling for justice after decades saying, ‘we haven’t been able to move on’.
Terah died neither in the place of his origin nor in the place of his dreams. He had let go but had not took hold. Many leave but some never arrive.
Strangely and sadly for him Terah passes through the place of his son’s name, Haran, the son who died. He cannot get past that place. He cannot move on. He had said goodbye to his son before and now he is stuck and cannot move away again. His grief and loss capture him and he dies there in Harran.
It is an incredible sad story all too prevalent today.
We must continue to do all we can to move on from hurt and loss.
It’s not how you start that is important as much as did you get to where you started out for? Was Harran worth it?
Harran proves you did move, you did set out.
Harran is along the way to where you are meant to be.
Harran has many qualities.
Haran satisfies enough to tempt you to remain in it.
But on your deathbed you will look into the eyes of your children and they will know whether you made it or whether you settled.
God still sends. So wherever you are today are you feeling the sending God behind you? Are you moving purposefully? Are you heading in the right direction? Are you still on mission?
Maybe you have failed to truly set out. Like Abraham for all kinds of reasons, family or otherwise, you settled. You obeyed but it was a halfway obedience. Looking back you see you didn’t obey fully. However, today, many things may have changed but you can still do what Abraham did, you can obey now, you can say YES to God now and give Him all of your life. You can trust in God. Even if you don’t know all the details you will not let your grief and loss hold you back any longer. This can be a new day of faith.
Missions Paul 