A Faith That Moves Us

By: Freya Galindo Guevara

There are two distinct ideas of “blessing” that run through the Bible. First, a blessing served as the public declaration that one had found favor with God. Second, the blessing gave one access to power, prosperity and success.

In Genesis 12:1-3 there are several words derived from the term blessing; they appear five times in two verses. Remember that Abraham did not yet have the blessing. God’s promise to him is for the future: “And I will make of you…and I will bless you…and you shall be…”

Many times God’s promises for our lives are not to be fulfilled in the immediate future, but we will have to WAIT. I am a very impatient person; waiting for something in the future is very difficult for me. I would like things to happen in an instant. I want to see immediate results, but the truth is that God takes his time.

I came across this text in my devotions: “But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of thy steadfast love answer me” (Psalm 69:13, RSV).

“At an acceptable time.” God’s timing is not our timing!

In this passage, God is saying to Abraham – GO. He does not say: “If you want,” “If you would like,” or “Look, what do you think if…?” God essentially told him: “Leave your city or country, your family, and your home.”

Before we move, we usually have the new place, where we will live, already identified. Abraham did not know where he was going; he just knew that he had to go, and God would “show him…”

He had to leave his country, his family, his house and inheritance. It meant getting out of his comfort and safety zones. God no longer wanted Abraham to stay where he was familiar, among those who he identified with, where he felt he most belonged.

Many times God also asks us to “leave” something or somewhere. Perhaps he does not ask us to leave country, family, house or inheritance – but he does ask us to “move away” from the place or things that make us feel comfortable or safe. Sometimes God asks us to leave the familiar to take us to another level of FAITH, to another level of intimacy where we can experience him more closely. When we don’t know where He is leading us, we will surely walk closer to Him.

He asks us to move so that he can do something IN us and THROUGH us. God wanted to bless the nations through Abraham. And in the process, God wanted to transform him. I am convinced that God also wants to do all this with you and with me.

Are we willing to obey God in the PRESENT to receive God’s promises in the FUTURE? Maybe God is giving us a mandate NOW so that we’ll be able to see his power at work in the FUTURE. But we need FAITH, and we need that FAITH to be great. We will not likely see everything that will take place, but we trust in the One who has promised that he will do it.

These verses in Hebrews amaze me: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going…All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (11:8, 13-16).

Are we willing to GO, even if we don’t know where we are going? Are we willing to follow Christ, even if we will never see the fulfillment of that promise? Today I encourage you to trust God in the present, and rest in his promises for the future. God is speaking; what will our response be? A fear that paralyzes us, or a faith that moves us? True faith moves us to obey and wait in God’s faithfulness to his promises.

*Freya Galindo Guevara has lived as a missionary in the Dominican Republic and Panama, working in church planting, finance, and urban mission.