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The Journey from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Today I want to talk about the journey of life. Our thinking is often consumed with what is happening today, or tomorrow, or sometimes what happened yesterday. God thinks in the long term. He can see our entire life at once. Think of it like this: if our life were a bicycle wheel and each day a spoke, then God sees it from the hub in the center and He can look down each spoke at any point in time.

In times of stress, we can lose focus on how awesome God actually is. There is nothing that comes our way that He does not already know about. He can see the decisions you make today and what they will turn into ten years from now. Sometimes a deal falling through is the greatest thing that could happen to us, though it may seem disappointing at the time. It is imperative that we seek His advice when making major decisions.

God sees the big picture of life, but He usually tells us only what we need to know. Consider Noah. He was a righteous man who walked with God during a very corrupt time on Earth. When God had enough, He told Noah to build an ark. So Noah is out in his yard day after day building a giant ship while everyone around thinks he has lost his mind. People didn’t understand him, but Noah kept hammering. God checked in with Noah from time to time, to confirm, instruct, and encourage him, but most of Noah’s days were just filled with work, and gopher wood.

Think of Abram in Genesis 12:1:

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; Genesis 12:1–2 NASB

God told Abram to leave his country and relatives and go to a country that He would show him. So Abram packed his stuff and began his journey at 75 years of age. That took real faith. Abram journeyed and sometimes a decade would pass without hearing anything new.

It wasn’t always pleasant either. Sometimes there were disagreements like when it became too crowded and he and his nephew Lot had to separate. Sometimes there were fights and battles, like when Lot and his family were taken hostage, and Abraham and his 318 trained fighting men had to go and rescue them. At least twice some powerful ruler tried to take Abraham’s wife, as their wife. Apparently Sarah was very beautiful. Years passed by.

Sarah couldn’t have children, so she gave Abraham a concubine, which seemed to work at first but then pride in one and jealousy in the other made that a hot mess. Abraham got caught in the middle and had to send his new wife and son away. Then they came back. Then they were sent away again.   

God gave Abraham and Sarah a son named Isaac when Abraham was 99 years old. When Isaac was a young man, God asked Abraham to offer him as a sacrifice. Of course God didn’t allow him to go through with it. It was just a test, and Abraham passed it.

There were ups and downs. There were times when they did not understand why this or that happened. There were times of silence. We read the book of highlights and it sounds exciting, but there are big gaps of time in between these events. There are long spans of time when God said nothing to Noah or Abraham because they were on course.

God’s plans often involve hard work and you don’t get to skip doing it. The things you learn today are preparing you for tomorrow. When the Lord began to push me into a computer business, at first He just made everything work. As long as I would go, He would allow me to fix it. But each time I learned more, He would just raise the difficulty. Doing that prepared me to do this today.

Don’t panic when you hear silence. His direction comes at critical points. Continue on with the last word given until He gives you something new. He sets things in motion and we keep it going. He lit the fire on the altar, and the priests were commanded to keep it burning. That is the way that Noah and Abraham did it. They faithfully did what the Lord instructed them and trusted Him to keep His promises. Noah built the ark, then God made it rain.

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please guide me today and speak to me in a way that I understand. Help me see the big picture and give me the grace to change whatever is needed, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.