Abraham had a tough life. Sure, God considered him a friend in a way many of us can barely imagine, but really, theirs wasn't the kind of friendship most of us would relish.
He never really got to settle in. First, God told him to leave his home in Ur without giving him a destination. That's it. Just leave. Not go to the next town or to Jerusalem or to Detroit. Just go. And, remarkably, Abraham seemed content with that. He went. Just like that, one day at a time, and ended up in Haran, after 600 miles on foot with his whole household. 600 miles.
He stayed there for awhile, and then God told him to get up and leave again, this time to the promised land in Canaan. Another 400 miles. On foot. To a land already occupied with folks they had to evict by force. And Abe did it.
When he got there, God told him he would have a son. His wife had a few chuckles over that because of their advanced age, but Abe believed it and waited. He waited 25 years and no son came. His wife got impatient and tried to make it happen, but that didn't work out the way she planned and finally, when Abe was 100, his wife had a baby.
Later, God told Abraham to kill his son. Yup, the same one he waited 100 years for. And Abraham prepared to do it.
Well, I feel a lot like Abraham these days. I can see what God has done and what He is doing and think I can see what God wants me to do, but for the life of me can't see how to get from point A to point B. It's like God is saying, "Go to Los Angeles" and then He breaks my legs. It's like He's promising me an impossible son. Just like Abraham. It's like He's telling me something is going to happen, but there is no possible way it can.
And I guess that's the point. Trusting God (or anyone, for that matter) really depends on not understanding how impossibilities can actually happen. It's doing as much as we can in obedience and love, then letting the person responsible for getting the rest done just do it. After all, our aim is to fulfil God's purpose, not our own, or is supposed to be. And if the purpose is not ours, then the method by which it is accomplished is not ours, either.
The simple way is to say it's a matter of relinquishing control, and that's probably true, but it's more than that. It's believing God is God. It's understanding the nature and reality of love. It's acknowledging that our greatest strength doesn't lie in strength of character, natural virtue, knowledge, or experience. Our greatest strength lies in our connectedness to God. It's remembering that our first and best purpose is not to succeed in our plans. It's to follow, like Abraham, where we're pointed, content to not understand why.
Maybe that's what will make me a friend of God, too.
Image: Crosswalk.com
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