Just Let Go

I had a conversation the other day (yes, it was literally the other day and not last year) with a guy that I've only known for about 8 days. I've never seen him before in my life, yet I felt like I've known him for years. Have you ever felt that way with someone you just met? I can't say it happens all that often, but it happened this past week and was glad it did. It's funny because we got on the conversation of Abraham, who was the subject of my last post, and he revealed some interesting things to me that I had never realized about old Abe.

For example, I wasn't aware that although Abraham was very faithful and was praised for his trust in God's call on his life, he wasn't exactly the picture of faith we think of when we explore his life. No doubt Abraham was faithful to God, but his problem was that he had trust issues. His lack of trust manifested itself the way ours do when God presses upon our hearts to let something go and we say "okay", but cling to that one little thing that we think God won't care we hang onto because it's so little (we're so dumb).

Abraham was called to do four things: (1) Leave his family (father, mother, brother, sister, cousins, nieces and nephews), (2) Leave his people (any non-family and servants), (3) Leave his land (in essence his "hood"), and (4) Go to the land that God will show him (nothing specific, just go and God will show you kind of thing).

Not completely sure how long time surpasses from when God calls Abraham to these four things and when he actually obeys, but the reality is that the only thing he does "fully" is leave his land. In essence, he is only being obedient to one of the four things God has called him to do. I'm not going to go into great detail as to how Abraham was disobedient, but let's just say that he never truly leaves his family since Lot comes with him, he never really left his people since Hagar (Sarah's maidservant) is present (Ishmael, hello?), and Abraham goes to Egypt and gets himself into a big mess when God was specifically calling him to not go there.

So, what's the point in mentioning this? The point is that this very specifically parallels my own life. All too often I cling and hold onto areas and ideas that God has specifically called me to let go and in turn I display a lack of trust in his call on my life. As soon as Abraham finally obeyed, God worked things out in his life because at 100 years old he fathers a child (Isaac) that goes on to become the nation of Israel. But it wasn't through frustration, it wasn't without mistakes, it wasn't without heartache and pain, and it wasn't without a long, long, time of disobedience that Abraham finally obeyed in the fullest sense. Probably because he was unsure. Probably because he had trust issues. Maybe because it was risky. I tend to believe it was all of the above. I also believe that I'm no different. I've made many mistakes. I've stopped when God told me to go. I've went when God told me to be still. I've held onto things when God told me to let them go. I can still feel the remnants of those very things in the cracks of my fingers because I've clinged to them for so long.

I've made poor decisions in my life, but nothing is too far gone for God to change for His good. There's a song that I like to sing and the bridge reads like this:

"You make all things work together for my good."

It's a reference from Romans 8:28. I not only believe that God uses our obedience, but even our disobedience to eventually bring Him glory. It doesn't mean we can avoid pain or the consequence of our disobedience, but that He will work through it.

I can't say that I have anything figured out, but I can say that I simply need to be obedient even when the obedient thing to do doesn't make any sense. My friend says it best, "It's my desire to please Him, that please Him."