Do I know what’s next?

Today I feel like Abraham must have felt when God called him to go — not knowing where and what awaited him there. God is asking me to change many things. Part of that was a deep desire to simplify my life, to be more efficient, to listen more closely to Him in areas where habit dictated action rather than the Holy Spirit. However, I know that whatever lies ahead, I am clueless yet eager to discover what will happen.

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. (Hebrews 11:8)

MacArthur begins today’s reading with: “The life of faith begins with a willingness to forsake everything that displeases God.” If that is applicable to me, then living by habit is His target rather than any gross sin. Yet I know that sin is sin, whether it is shaking my fist in His face or merely not asking Him how He wants me to spend every minute of each day.

Abraham is the biblical example of the living by faith. He was not perfect, sometimes taking matters into his own hands, but the Bible is clear; not only was this man the father of the Hebrew nation, by example he was the father of all who live by faith in God.

He (Abraham) received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well. (Romans 4:11)

The first-century Jews thought God selected this man because of his righteousness, but Abraham was a sinful man living in the idolatrous society in the Chaldean city of Ur. God’s call to him was like this: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1–3) and his response: “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” (Genesis 12:4)

He listened, trusted and obeyed. His pilgrimage of faith began when he separated himself from the pleasures of a pagan land to pursue God’s plan for his life.

There is a certain pleasure of being in control of life, doing things that are easy for me, keeping habits, living my days with a schedule of events and activities of my own choice. Most people would not consider any of that as sinful or pagan, but the closer God pulls me to Jesus, the more I see that He did not live that way. His prayer in Gethsemane was, “Not my will but thine be done” yet He prayed and lived that way all the time.

MacArthur says, “So it is with you if you’re a man or woman of true faith. You’ve forsaken sinful pleasures to follow Christ. And as your love for Christ increases, there’s a corresponding decrease in worldly desires.” Right now, I know that sinful desires include managing my own life without asking Him about all things. In a sense, this is practical atheism — living by my choices as if God did not exist.

God wants my focus on fulfilling His will for my life when I get up, whenever I eat and drink (see 1 Corinthians 10:31), and do daily chores (or not), finding out what He wants rather than simply living according to my to-do list without asking or listening for His input. He may not take me away from home, but I am already realizing that increased prayer will be part of it. I prayed three rather outrageous requests this week and He answered them. It wasn’t what I prayed that mattered, but He is showing me that I can pray for His will to be done with confidence in the outcome, no matter how impossible the request might seem. He wants me to always know the joy and assurance that come from following Him.

PRAY: Jesus, grant me the grace and spiritual courage to walk by faith today rather than by habit and in my own strength and thinking.

PONDER: How does this passage describe the way that I run my own life?

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life — is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

 

 

Choices and Consequences

 

READ 1 Samuel 5–10

In today’s world, failure to see cause and effect is common. Not so in the days of Samuel, at least with the Philistines, enemies of Israel. They had taken the Ark of God from God’s people and recognized that this was the cause of affliction that then happened:

The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” (1 Samuel 5:6–7)

They sent the ark to another city, Gath, but “after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them.” They sent it to Ekron, but the people cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” They called their leaders to send it back to Israel “that it may not kill us and our people” for there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven. (5:8–12)

They knew why they had been struck, and their method of sending it back settled any doubt . . . “send it off and let it go its way and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land . . . then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.” (6:8–9)

They did this test after realizing the power of God when their idol made of stone fell on its face two times before the ark. That knowledge is missing today. We hear all kinds of assumptions about cause and effect or no connections between the two are made at all, as if life is random and God is not involved.

The Israelites also knew otherwise. They realized that their own worship of idols was bringing trouble into their lives so “the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only.” (7:3–4) However, their devotion didn’t last. When Samuel grew old and his sons failed to properly take on his responsibilities, the people wanted a king like the other nations. Samuel was not happy. He prayed . . .

And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them . . . . And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” (8:5–9; 18)

This answer reveals how the people needed to be warned about cause and effect. Their decision to run their own lives the same way as the pagans around them may have messed with their ability to see what would happen because of it. Lack of faith has consequences.

Samuel did anoint a king and God gave this new king a boost of His Spirit and a new heart (10:6; 9). Even though Saul was handsome and the people were excited, there were some who said, “How can this man save us?” and they despised him and gave him no support. (10:24–27)

Would support have made a difference? Would these people pray for their king (like the NT commands) or would they go along with his disobedience to God? Would they see the errors of his ways and recognize the consequences? Or would they be like today’s people who select a leader because they don’t want to be led by the Lord? And because he or she looks and sounds good, failing to recognize that even leaders can fail to see the future results of their choices and actions?

Lord Jesus, all this makes me realize how often I act on impulse without consulting You or thinking ahead to how my choices will affect my life and the lives of others. I don’t want to make the same errors described in this passage and carry on as if I know better than You. Grant me the grace to stop and think far more often and more seriously than I do. Amen.