Our First Traveling Companion: Abraham
. . . who stepped into the unknown
Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that 1 will show you. (Genesis 12:1)
God's marching orders to Abraham are the very ones He gives to you and me at the start of each month and each day of the month. "Leave the past behind. Venture with Me into territory you have not yet glimpsed!"
Leave behind old hurts and hates, old limitations. And leave the good as well: last month's insight, the truth that was so stretching yesterday. Dare for the better! Abraham's country and kindred were not evil - they were simply not all that God had in mind for him.
Where is God leading you and me now? We will know only by setting out. The direction was all God would show Abraham in the beginning, not the destination. The journey itself, the putting of one foot after the other in faith, is to be our great training ground in trust.
My husband John and I experienced this years ago in Africa. Our life as young parents in the suburbs of New York had not been wicked, only familiar. Within the routines of shopping at the supermarket and driving the kids to the dentist it was easy to forget our daily, hourly dependence on God. Not in Uganda! There we found ourselves praying over every unfamiliar food item in the curbside markets, every turn on the unmarked jungle roads. Our need for God was no greater than it had always been; what was new was our awareness of that need.
The same is true of the interior journey. As long as we cling to accustomed practices, satisfied with what we already know of God, taking no risks with our faith, we will not experience that moment-by-moment "companionship of the unfolding way" that God longs to provide.
What can we learn from Abraham as we set out on our journey?
Oases
The route to which God called Abraham was across arid plateaus and dry hill country. How would he water his sheep and goats and feed the men, women and children who depended on him? By consulting caravan masters who had traveled this way ahead of him, planning each day's trek to end at an oasis.
From those who have gone ahead of us, we too can learn the importance of these times of refreshment. Scheduled quiet times, daily Bible reading, a home prayer group, and regular church attendance are a few of the ways seasoned travelers pace their journey.
Nomad Timing
We are on a walk of faith, not a jet flight dictated by a timetable. There is no schedule on our pilgrimage: Abraham paused or moved on as pasturage dictated. If a new insight has meaning, stay with it as long as it continues to nourish you. If a particular traveling companion has a lot to say to you, walk with him for two months, six months. Calendars were invented by settled agricultural societies; we are wayfarers, learning with nomadic Abraham to stay until the well runs dry.
Altars
God's guidance to Abraham was progressive, revealed little by little as he "passed through the land." At each place where God's will, God's nature, God's purpose became clearer, "he built there an altar" -- a place of worship marking the ground as holy. A "trip log" is one way of erecting altars along your personal route: a notebook in which to record discoveries, resolutions, thanksgivings.
The unseen city
Abraham died without ever reaching his final destination, "the city. . . whose builder and maker is God." But he died in faith, not in disillusionment, "not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar..." (Hebrews. 11:10, 13). Isn't this the essence of faith: confident affirmation of what is still - in our time frame - future tense?
The walk of faith is not for those who need quick results; it is for those for whom, for now, the journey in God's company is enough.
Keep thou my feet,
I do not ask to see
The distant scene;
One step enough for me.
- John Henry Newman
Lead us this month, Lord of the Journey, one step at a time.
Meet our next companion now >
Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that 1 will show you. (Genesis 12:1)
God's marching orders to Abraham are the very ones He gives to you and me at the start of each month and each day of the month. "Leave the past behind. Venture with Me into territory you have not yet glimpsed!"
Leave behind old hurts and hates, old limitations. And leave the good as well: last month's insight, the truth that was so stretching yesterday. Dare for the better! Abraham's country and kindred were not evil - they were simply not all that God had in mind for him.
Where is God leading you and me now? We will know only by setting out. The direction was all God would show Abraham in the beginning, not the destination. The journey itself, the putting of one foot after the other in faith, is to be our great training ground in trust.
My husband John and I experienced this years ago in Africa. Our life as young parents in the suburbs of New York had not been wicked, only familiar. Within the routines of shopping at the supermarket and driving the kids to the dentist it was easy to forget our daily, hourly dependence on God. Not in Uganda! There we found ourselves praying over every unfamiliar food item in the curbside markets, every turn on the unmarked jungle roads. Our need for God was no greater than it had always been; what was new was our awareness of that need.
The same is true of the interior journey. As long as we cling to accustomed practices, satisfied with what we already know of God, taking no risks with our faith, we will not experience that moment-by-moment "companionship of the unfolding way" that God longs to provide.
What can we learn from Abraham as we set out on our journey?
Oases
The route to which God called Abraham was across arid plateaus and dry hill country. How would he water his sheep and goats and feed the men, women and children who depended on him? By consulting caravan masters who had traveled this way ahead of him, planning each day's trek to end at an oasis.
From those who have gone ahead of us, we too can learn the importance of these times of refreshment. Scheduled quiet times, daily Bible reading, a home prayer group, and regular church attendance are a few of the ways seasoned travelers pace their journey.
Nomad Timing
We are on a walk of faith, not a jet flight dictated by a timetable. There is no schedule on our pilgrimage: Abraham paused or moved on as pasturage dictated. If a new insight has meaning, stay with it as long as it continues to nourish you. If a particular traveling companion has a lot to say to you, walk with him for two months, six months. Calendars were invented by settled agricultural societies; we are wayfarers, learning with nomadic Abraham to stay until the well runs dry.
Altars
God's guidance to Abraham was progressive, revealed little by little as he "passed through the land." At each place where God's will, God's nature, God's purpose became clearer, "he built there an altar" -- a place of worship marking the ground as holy. A "trip log" is one way of erecting altars along your personal route: a notebook in which to record discoveries, resolutions, thanksgivings.
The unseen city
Abraham died without ever reaching his final destination, "the city. . . whose builder and maker is God." But he died in faith, not in disillusionment, "not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar..." (Hebrews. 11:10, 13). Isn't this the essence of faith: confident affirmation of what is still - in our time frame - future tense?
The walk of faith is not for those who need quick results; it is for those for whom, for now, the journey in God's company is enough.
Keep thou my feet,
I do not ask to see
The distant scene;
One step enough for me.
- John Henry Newman
Lead us this month, Lord of the Journey, one step at a time.
Meet our next companion now >