Daily Devotional

"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 (ESV)

When it comes to group projects, are you the type of person who likes to be in charge and figure out what everyone else must do or would you rather sit back and wait for a role to be assigned to you? I must say, after years of being in charge and leading groups of people, every now and then it’s nice to simply kick back and wait for someone else to tell me what to do. However, more often than not, I find it hard to surrender the reins. Mainly because I like knowing where I’m going and feeling confident in the path chosen to get there. As a result, it’s not easy to simply follow when I don't know where I’m going. How often does this relate to our spiritual walk? God has promised to direct us, but because we can't see the details of our destination, our faith sometimes is at a standstill.

 So that begs the question, how do we walk by faith when we can't see where we're going? Well, truth be told that's exactly what faith is. If we could see where we were going it wouldn't be faith, it would just be us taking a walk. We call the Christian life a “faith” walk or “faith” journey because at times we don’t know where we are going because God is leading us. The Hebrews passage reminds us that Abraham “went” even though he did not know where he was going. God didn't give him a destination. I look at this and think, there's no question that this must have been challenging, right? Imagine how aimless his journey must have felt. Yet we are amazed by Abraham's trust in God and obedience to Him despite the circumstances.  

As with us, God often calls us out of our comfort zones without clear direction. I think if we knew where we were going, we would take our own paths to get there. Another thing to consider is if we knew exactly where we were going, we’d get overwhelmed by how long it’s going to take or how hard the journey is going to be. Yet isn’t it the journey itself that God uses to grow us? It’s on the journey that our faith grows, our obedience grows, our trust in Him grows, and therefore our relationship grows. The times we can't see are the times we're most open to God's plan because we can't rely on our own. Truth is, many times God does not call us to know, He simply calls us to go and trust in Him along the way. As you finish up this devo, consider One Small Step of faith and obedience you can take with God today in an area of your life that He is calling you to “go” and trust Him along the way.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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