The weather is sunny and beautiful today....such a beautiful reminder of His privision and grace in our lives. I praise Him for this sweet reminder.
We just started a study on Abraham (he is Abram right now) with our precious community group, whom we dearly love. This first session hit us like a ton of bricks for multiple reasons, and we are grateful for what God allowed us to see through the incredible story of this man's life. I am so grateful that He continues to use people that mess up along the way!
Anyhow, Abram's story begins in Chapter 11 of Genisis talking about his lineage, but then at the beginning of Chapter 12 God calls this unassuming man to start a story that would change history. Check out how Chapter 12 kicks off:
1 Now the LORD had said to Abram:
“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
3 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.”

The Lord told Abram to leave what He knew and just follow Him. He did not tell him where to go, He just said that He would show him. This was an entirely huge step of faith that Abram I'm sure did not take lightly...however, He trusted in this calling at the age of 75, took His wife Sarai, and left. I am awed and humbled by his answer to the calling to go. He did but what He does next is all too familiar in my own life....he chooses to take things into his own hands and not trust the Lord for everything.
The next verses of this chapter tell of how Abram and Sarai passed through a few different places until the Lord appeared to Abram and said "To your descendants I will give this land". He built an alter to the Lord here. He continued to travel South and then went to live in Egypt. Here is where things got a little to uncomfortable for Abram...he decides to come up with a plan himself to keep himself safe and not rely completely on the promise of God. He tells Sarai to lie when they get there and tell Pharaoh that she is his sister and not his wife because of her great beauty. Abram was afraid that if they found out they were married that the Egyptians would kill Abram and let Sarai live. So, at that point they relied on the plan they devised instead of relying on God's promise and provision. Pharaoh then took Sarai into his harem. The Lord however stepped in and sent plagues...and it is interesting to note that He says He sent the plagues "because of Sarai, Abram's wife". God was watching out for her best intrests even though Abram was more interested in his own. Pharaoh realizes the reason for these plagues and sends Sarai back to Abram with the command to "go your own way". They left the land with their lives, but with the great demonstration of God's grace.
This story hit me in the face. God has called me to do things in the past and I have made excuses or decided to do things my own way instead of relying on His promises. However, I have looked back and seen what God has done despite my selfishness and am humbled that He still wants to do things in and through me.
God is not going to ask us to do something and then walk away to let us figure everything out on our own...that is not dependenence on Him that's dependence on ourselves. When He calls us to something we have to have faith that He has the plans and details worked out for His glory and we don't need to get in the way of that...we just need to follow His direction. That is what we are learning now. What does it look like to totally depend on Christ for every need? We want to experience that type of dependecy and that type of faith. Pray for us as we allow God to show us what that might look like.