Obey in Faith

Abraham walked with God.  He obeyed Him, served Him, and was even willing to sacrifice his son for Him.  He “believed the Lord” (Genesis 15:6).  He had faith.  Many examples of Abraham’s faith are recorded in the Bible. However today I want to specifically focus on His journey of faith; that is, his decision to travel to the land of the inheritance.  Hebrews 11:8 says this about the event: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”  He had no idea where he was going.  All he had was the command of God.  And even that was only three verses long.

God commanded, “'Get out of your country,

From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’” (Genesis 12:1-3).

That’s it.  No details. Abraham didn’t know how long it was going to take. He didn’t know where in the world he was going. He didn’t know if it would even be worth it.

But he went. He stepped out in faith and in obedience.  God didn’t fill in all the details, He simply asked for obedience.

And He does the same for us today.  He calls us to do things that seem strange. Things that sound hard. Things that look difficult.  And He asks us to step out in faith.

Consider prayer, for instance.  Like Abraham, God has given us a command.  “Pray without ceasing,” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 commands.  “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving,” Colossians 4:2 adds.

We don’t have a direction manual for prayer (although we are given guidelines).  We don’t know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what the answers of our prayers will be.  Yet we do have this promise, just as Abraham’s command was accompanied by a promise: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).  We are called to step out in faith, believing that if we fulfill the command of Christ to pray, we will receive the answers to our prayers as the Lord has promised.  Obedience and Faith.  These two go hand in hand, in this generation just as they did for Abraham.

What about memorization as well? Clearly, this too is a command:  Colossians 3:16 says, “ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Deuteronomy 6:6 also says, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.”

So we have the command.  What is the promise?  “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).  Jeremiah 15:16 adds, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.”

We have both the command and the promise for Scripture memory.  Now we must believe that this promise is true. And we must act on that belief.

Just as Abraham had to believe that God was indeed leading him to a worthy inheritance and would bless him as He has promised, so we must believe that God will indeed fulfill His promises even in this generation.  We must act in obedience to the commands of Christ by faith. Let us take Abraham as our example: “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Romans 4:20-21).  Obey in faith!