Stepping Out in Faith

I wrestled with the title of this message for a bit. It could have been titled many different things. For example:
Letting Benjamin Go; Saying Goodbye to Security; Leaving Your Comfort Zone; You get the picture. It's the idea of setting out on a new and unchartered journey to a new and possibly undiscovered, uninhabited place. It could be a lonely place, it could be tumultuous, maybe it's a place that "no man has gone before". It's a place that may be in the dark for us (or seemingly so because we can only see the Lamp at our feet and the Light at our path). Ahead of our steps it's very dark, but not really though. The place we are heading toward is actually in the brightest Light of all. It's the place where the true LIGHT dwells. It's the place that He has already set up for us, and He is just patiently waiting for us to follow HIS steps to arrive there.

I've been reading about our father and his faith. Not our Heavenly Father, but our forefather Abraham. Abraham or Abram as he was called at that time in his life, was a hero in faith. He should be our example, and I believe that his story was penned for that very reason, to encourage us in our faith. To build up our trust in the providence of Yahweh, our heavenly Father who never leaves us nor forsakes us. Abraham was the man who was called the "friend of God".

Abraham's life was not much different than ours. We would benefit greatly from studying the "father of faith".
His life was in Ur, a very civilized place in the world, with everything a man could ever want. He lived there with his family. Ur was also a place where idolatry abounded, and unfortunately Abraham's father Terah was an idolator. We never think of God using someone from an idolatrous background to do HIS work, but the call of God can come regardless of one's roots.

Look at Genesis 12:1 " and Yahweh said to Abram, " Go, get yourself out of your land, from your relatives, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you."

God had a three-fold command to Abram:

1. Leave your society
2. Leave your stability
3. Leave your security

What would God like us to see?

1. Leave your society. Abraham's country was idolatrous. There was a warning in this command for Abram as well as for us. Be careful of societal boundaries. It may mean leaving, it can sometimes be a challenge for, us but although we are "in" this society, we are not part of this society. The more like society you become, the less impact you will have for the cause of Yeshua.
This is not only a warning for young people, but for us as well.

2. Leave your stability. Abram was not only told to leave his country, but to leave his relatives as well.
It's quoted in "the Patriarchs", "leave all that life has encircled you with; leave the stability of home and friends, and that circle of people you know; leave the pattern of life and break out of it". I'm going to send you to someplace totally new and different. Break out of the norm."
This command was probably one of the most difficult things for Abram. We've all got our comfortable patterns of living. We do not easily break away from the "norm".

3. Leave your security. Lastly Abram was told to "go forth from your father's house". He was told that he not only had to leave his country, but all his relatives, and his father's house. This was a completely foreign concept. You did not leave your father's house, in fact, after you married, you actually would build on to your father's house with your new wife moving in to the family home with you. It was a foreign concept to leave your father's house. That is exactly what God asked Abram to do--- leave his security, the security of life and family. He was told in a sense to " just trust Me and come along with Me, Abram".


Ponder this story for a moment:

A little boy was his grandfather's constant companion. They would often go on short trips together- to the grocery store, sometimes to the lake to fish, or wherever the grandfather needed to go. The boy always tagged along with his grandfather, they were delightful companions. One day the grandfather said " Let's go for a ride".
The boy asked, "Where are we going?"
The grandfather left without him. When he got back, the little boy looked crestfallen and asked, " Grandfather, why did you leave me behind?" The grandfather looked at him and said, " Because you asked me where we were going. If you really wanted to go with me, it wouldn't have mattered where we were going."

The author goes on to tell us that this same thing is in the heart of the man or woman of faith. God says, " Go", or "Do", or "Be". But we say, "OK, LORD, where is the security package? What are the benefits? Where are You taking me? How long will I be there?"
So God moves on to the next person.


Continuing with Abraham: So God commanded Abram, "leave your society, stability, and leave you security. Leave it all behind Abram. " I have something much better for you.
One of the difficult things we need to be warned of, as individuals and as fellowships, is that we can fall into a pattern that is so predictacle. We know exactly what is going to happen in our comfortable conformed lives, so we never dare to risk anything for God. Never stepping out in faith...we want to see it all in front of us. As a result, our availability and capability for the Kingdom of God is greatly hindered.

We should take heed that we not fall into a pattern of security and stabilty with familiar things, thereby missing out on the possibility of moving on to greater things with God. In Genesis 12, Abram was commanded to throw away all his "securities", and become a wanderer, a pilgrim, a pioneer. Abram was to become as Charles Spurgeon once wrote, "shipwrecked on the island of God's sovereignty". This is where we want to live. Responding to God's call means finding our security in God alone.
Do we really want that? Can we really rest in that?