When you begin a journey, the prospect ahead is often daunting and at times seems impossible.\u00a0 You may think, “How will I ever get there?”\u00a0 But then, before you know it, you look back, and you are amazed to see how far you have come.\u00a0 This is true in our spiritual life as well as our natural life.<\/p>\n
We have been following Abraham’s journey and the lessons God has been giving him as he grows in faith and dependence on God.\u00a0 Let’s continue that today and see what else we can learn from Abraham’s journey.<\/p>\n
Take a few minutes to read these verses and meditate on the questions below.<\/p>\n
Genesis 23:1-20<\/p>\n
Abraham has been growing in faith.\u00a0 From the time God called him out of Ur, God has been slowly giving him lessons and opportunities for him to grow.<\/p>\n
Abraham is now nearing the end of his life.\u00a0 He has been living in the land God lead him to, the land God has promised to him, for close to 70 years.\u00a0 But, he has no possession in the land.\u00a0 He is still a foreigner and a stranger.\u00a0 Through the lessons he has learned, he has grown in his faith and confidence in God.\u00a0 God has promised to make him a great nation.\u00a0 God has promised him the possession of the land in which he is living.\u00a0 God miraculously provided Isaac, but he is not in possession of anything regarding the land.\u00a0 In the sacrifice of Isaac, God brought Abraham to the place of complete abandon and dependence on Him to fulfill His promise.<\/p>\n
As Abraham faces what to do for Sarah’s burial, he now has another crisis in faith.\u00a0 It was important in the culture of the day where people buried their dead; burial was to be done in their native land.\u00a0 Abraham now faced the dilemma whether to believe God for the fulfillment of what he does not see, and claim this land as his “native land,” or take her back to where they were from.<\/p>\n
In faith, Abraham chooses to bury Sarah in Canaan.\u00a0 This choice meant there was no going back. Though Abraham was an alien and a stranger among the people (23:4), he operated on the assurance of what he hoped for, the evidence of what he could not see (Heb 11:1).\u00a0 When Abraham bought this cave, he was renouncing Paddan Aram as his native land and stating in a visible way, that Canaan was now his native land, by faith.<\/p>\n
Looking back over Abraham’s journey, I know there were times when he was discouraged. Like in Genesis 17 when he begs God to allow Ishmael to be the fulfillment of the promise.\u00a0 There were times when Abraham struggled with believing God was able to protect and provide for him.\u00a0 Like when he lied to Abilimilech about Sara being his sister.<\/p>\n
But, each of these events were opportunities for God to shape Abraham’s faith.\u00a0 And each event built Abraham’s confidence in God just a little more.\u00a0 He was seeing Romans 5:3-5 lived out.\u00a0 The hardships were causing him to depend on God.\u00a0 His dependence built his character and his confidence in God.\u00a0 His character produced a greater hope and the expectation in God’s faithfulness.\u00a0 And now, he operated on the assurance of what he hoped for, the evidence of what he could not see.\u00a0 God’s love for him filled his heart so much that he now lived in absolute confidence in God so much that he was willing to bury his dead in the land God had not yet given him.<\/p>\n
As you look back on your faith journey, what lessons has God taught you?\u00a0 Maybe you are in the midst of difficulty and you are discouraged, wondering if God can do what He has promised.\u00a0 Don’t miss out on what God wants to teach you.\u00a0 Don’t short circuit God’s process of growth, moving you from your need to depend on him, to building character, growing in hope, and finally seeing the love of God in a new, deeper way. (Rom 5:3-5)\u00a0 God has begun a work in you, and He promises that He will not stop until that work is complete.\u00a0 (Phil 1:6)<\/p>\n
Heavenly Father, thank you for not giving up on us.\u00a0 Thank you for the example of Abraham and how you so graciously and lovingly, worked in his life through the years.\u00a0 You took him from a man who was so self-dependent and self-reliant, and you transformed him into someone who was completely available for you to use.\u00a0 That is what you desire to do in my life.\u00a0 Father, don\u2019t let me miss the lessons you have for me to learn.\u00a0 Continue to shape and mold me into a life that is less of self and more of you.\u00a0 May I one day be able to look back and recognize that I have grown into none of self and all of you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our Reality: (Observe) When you begin a journey, the prospect ahead is often daunting and at times seems impossible.\u00a0 You may think, “How will I ever get there?”\u00a0 But then, before you know it, you look back, and you are amazed to see how far you have come.\u00a0 This is true in our spiritual life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48605],"tags":[448],"class_list":{"0":"post-673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-faith-journey","7":"tag-ethnos360","8":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/david-watters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}