Faith To Follow!

When I was quite young, I hated the scary carnival rides. Though I love the sensations today, back then I didn't like being turned upside down and whirled around being made to feel my stomach was going to be spun right out of my body. A free ride on "The Octopus" with my older brother who had brought some grease rags to the ride operator at a county fair couldn't have ended fast enough. I wanted the ride to stop. I didn't like it.

When the world's fair was in Seattle, Washington in 1962 (I was eight at the time), while my brothers and cousins went on some spinning rides, I wanted the tamer stuff. I remember "driving alone" an old model T car on a slightly elevated wooden roadway. With my hands gripping the steering wheel I very diligently steered that car as I came to the curves and winding path ahead of me. I was so absorbed in my careful steering that it was not until the ride was almost done that I noted the center track that kept the car on course whether I steered or not. The concentration on my careful steering was apparently obvious because my parents said, "You were really steering. Were you afraid you would go off the edge?"

How much does that depict life; holding on so tightly and steering so anxiously as each turn appears, while failing to trust in the path God has laid out for us? Am I helping God drive my life or am I trusting Him to set the course and get me safely home?

Remember the faith of Abraham. Listed among other heroes of faith, the Hebrew writer noted. . .

"(8) 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. (9) By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. (10) For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." ( Hebrews 11:8-10 ESV)

I have to admit I love being able to download maps and directions and use my GPS (Global Positioning System) to help me get where I'm going. I like to know before I go! However, what marks my movement in my spiritual journey? What a FAITH Abraham possessed, just to follow God obediently even though he did not know where he was going. He simply trusted that wherever God led would be good. I need a FAITH like that; a FAITH that does not get anxious and resist and question, but rather trusts even with the seemingly impossible. It is a FAITH LIKE THAT OF ABRAHAM who even in his old age -- with the promise of an heir yet to be fulfilled --was "FULLY CONVINCED THAT GOD IS ABLE to do what he had promised." ( Romans 4:21)

Yes, Abraham most definitely had a FAITH TO FOLLOW and one worth following. Let us consider his example as we learn to more trustingly follow God wherever He leads in life. GPS: God's Path is Safe! HE IS ABLE to get us to the land of promise!

Have a great day LIVING WITH A FAITH TO GO!
Carl

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