The Journey of Faith - To Be Led, and To Learn

Yesterday at New Life God moved across our fellowship in rather remarkable ways.  There was something that happened that can only be described as God's Spirit at work in hearts and minds.  The Worship time with music touched my heart deeply, and also many others.  I have been burdened by several things of late and have been praying for people and situations and it seemed as if God opened up some doors that had been shut in various places and people...so it was good.  

This is part 1 of the teaching that happened...and you'll note an explanation towards the end of what was shared by my friend Wayne.

We’re in a series I’ve entitled, “The Journey of Faith”.

Faith is the most basic aspect of our relationship with God. 

Hebrews 11:1
¹  Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

The book of Hebrews, chapter 11, is filled with people who lived out their lives by Faith...and what they teach us is very relevant to our own lives today.  

Hebrews 11:6
⁶  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

We are going to dive into the story of Abraham - one of the most well-known characters in all of scripture.  What we want to look at is the way he lived out his Faith in being led by God to leave his country and family to journey to the place God wanted him to go.  This journey of faith did more than just move him geographically; it also caused him to learn about God and Himself.  

Our own journey of faith will do the same for us today.  How do I know that?

Here’s my assumption:  As Christians we also live out our Faith in life as a journey…BUT, we’re not alone, we’re being LED by God, and in the process were also LEARNING about God and I might add, ourselves too.

The story of Abraham is one of the more fascinating stories in scripture that involves those “no turning back” times, and it’s about His FAITH and the way in which God LEADS and Abraham LEARNS.

Hebrews 11:8
⁸  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Two aspects of Abraham’s faith in Hebrews 11: 

He obeyed, and He Went…specifically, to the land that God promised him.

He had to believe God was leading him, and he had to trust God to show him, since he didn’t know anything about this place.

BUT, to get the full impact, to lead this story off, we need to look at Abraham’s Father, a man by name of Terah, and learn that…

When We Stop Living By Faith – We Don’t Believe God is Leading, So We “Settle”

The Story begins at the end of the 11^th chapter of Genesis, and carries over into the beginning of chapter 12.

Genesis 11:27-32
²⁷  This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot…
³¹  Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
³²  Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

The Story of Abraham actually begins with His Father, Terah…who left his home in Ur of the Chaldeans in order to go to the land of Canaan.

Canaan is the land of Promise, and Terah is taking his family to Canaan, but instead of getting to Canaan, he ends up in a place called Haran (about half way, on top of map)…and this is where he settles.

Settling has to do with being unwilling to go further than what seems “good enough”.

He began his journey in order to leave the area he was in.  Ur of Chaldeans (bottom right hand side of map), was a place where worship consisted of the Moon God, a Lunar Deity, which was popular in many ancient civilizations…e.g., Egypt worshiped the Sun god, “RA”.

He left there because he believed he was supposed to go to Canaan…he had the Vision and the goal - it may have come from Abraham as we'll see in a bit.  But along the way, something happened, and he "settled".  Why?

·       > was the journey long and tiring?

·        >  was it that he wanted to have an easier life and comfort instead of journeying?

·        >  was it that he simple saw Haran and said, “this is good enough, I don’t need to go further?”

Whatever the reason, Terah couldn’t believe that he was supposed to go on, so he settled, and this is where he eventually died.

Settling happens when we don’t believe God is leading our lives, or that He is really for me.  When we don't believe that He will actually Lead me in life we begin to believe that we have to do it on our own, and every decision is based on what I want and not on “Is this what God wants”. 

I’ve seen marriages “settle”.

I’ve seen people “settle” when it comes to the way they are treated by others.

I’ve seen people “settle” into grief, or depression, or sometimes bitterness…all because they couldn't or wouldn't consider that the difficulties of life might be God at work in them.

I've seen people "settle" in jobs/careers and they don't enjoy it, but it seems that it is "good enough"...it's all we can expect.

Years ago I remember reading a book in which the author makes the statement:  “The enemy of Best is Good enough!” 

Terah Settled…  Which speaks to us today, for any journey of Faith involves believing God, and believing that God rewards our faith responses:

  Hebrews 11:6
⁶  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

I want you to remember that phrase:  “He rewards those who seek him.” We’re going to see that again…

BUT, the point is this – We can choose to NOT believe that…to SETTLE into a life that for whatever reason chooses to no longer believe God wants to do anything in us:  In all areas of life – Marriage, Career, Job, Relationships, and don’t forget “Kingdom”.

But we can also do something different than settle - we can be led by God, through faith in God, and listen for what is best.  In order to do that, we must not succumb to thinking that any journey of Faith is going to be smooth and without difficulties...

At this point I asked my friend and brother in Christ, Wayne VanderGalien to come up and share the story of his home and the six month repair journey he's been on.

It was very powerful to listen to him share how a bathroom remodeling project turned into a crisis of faith, prayer, asking God to know what to do, and through a sleepless night coming to the conclusion that what he needed to do was repair it to the best, not just "settle" for good enough.  That was six months and thousands of dollars ago. 

Faith is like that...it leads us, we learn...about God, about ourselves.  Because, when we choose to give our lives to Christ, we must realize that He intends on changing everything, not just rearranging the furniture.

All of the issues of our lives, our character, our values, our desires, our life goals…all of that is now in His interest also… He intends in leading us.  

Terah Settled, but Abraham didn’t.  That's where I'll begin this in the next post.

Peace