Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Hebrews 11:8,9 -- By faith, Abraham obeyed

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. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Hebrews 11:8.9
Christians  must learn when to lean on their own understanding and when to listen to the still small voice. In this verse, we are made to remember that God's people often walk by a divine guidance, and sometimes the divine guidance asks for impossible things. The person of faith, however, must put aside his/her desire to know the end from the beginning and enter fully into God's plan. Only God knows the end from the beginning. Faith enables us to see the invisible and to trust the One who sees and understand true reality.
The stuff we think we know may not be true. The path we believe we must take may not be the path we should take.  The human mind is notoriously sure of itself and is difficult to change. Humans have very little knowledge about life and we cling to our opinions tenaciously.
Abram was told that he must leave his home and family but he was not told where he was going. After he discovered where he was going, he was told that neither he nor his descendants would not inherit the land for years. He was also told that his descendants would be enslaved in Egypt. He was told all this before he had any child.
But then Paul goes one step further. He tells the readers of the epistles to the Hebrew that even though Abram was to inherit an earthly land, Abram looked beyond the earhtly. He understood that the earthly country was not what truly mattered. What mattered to Abram most of all was growing in relationship with God and understanding God's kingdom. His goal was to please God and to do all he could to be with God forever.

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