Not Knowing Where You Are Going
Abram was seventy-five years old when God spoke to him: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). Seventy-five is certainly an odd age to be finally leaving home. Parents in our day and age get antsy when their children haven’t left by their twenties. Abram was called to leave his parents at seventy-five. The Hebrews author specifically mentions this incident as a demonstration of faith: “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.” (Hebrews 11:8)
Why does God call Abram out of the comfort, security, and safety of his country, his family, and his home, to go out into the unknown? You might think that when God calls a person, it is to better, more comfortable, more secure, safer things. It was not so with Abram. God’s call takes Abram to a strange country where Abram must face pagans, wars, famine, tyrants, tricksters, family disputes, tragedy, and more. God’s call is not a call to more ease and comfort, but to challenges Abram would never have faced if he had stayed at home.
This connection between leaving comfort, venturing into the unknown, and faith is worth considering. Faith, as the Hebrews author puts it, is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (11:1). In Abram’s case, “the things hoped for” were the promises God made to Abram, and “the conviction of things not seen” was Abram’s belief that God’s promises were true even if they did not appear immediately. Abram acted in full assurance of God’s righteousness and truthfulness. That is what God is looking for in those who would follow him: a trust in God, even when you do not know where you are going, or even if you have not yet seen the fulfilment of God’s promises.
This faith is not a one-time event, either. It is often followed by new and different forms of faith, building on top of one another. The call of God to a foreign land was only the beginning for Abram. After arriving in Canaan, Abram was subject to more and more challenges, each essentially asking Abram to continue to place his trust in God. Abram did well at some of these events, and not so well at others. He was a man, after all, fallible and weak as the rest of us. But even despite his failings, he believed the LORD, and it was counted as righteousness (Genesis 15:6), and this is the same kind of faith that saves us (Romans 4:11).
When we talk about a “belief” in God, it cannot merely be some kind of mental assent we hold in our heads without it taking action in our lives. If we don’t take action based on our beliefs, then do we even really believe what we say we do? If God had told Abram to go to a land he would show him, and Abram believed but stayed in Ur, could you really say that Abram believed at all? So it is with us, and why James says: “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I’ll show you my faith by my works.” (2:18b)
It is not just enough to say you believe in God and in his promises, you must believe enough to act on them. So when God called Abram, Abram went, even though he did not know where he was going. Again, this is applicable to us. Sometimes we may not know why God asks us to do certain things.
Sometimes God’s commands can feel like traveling to some unknown place. But if we truly believe that God has commanded certain things, then even if we don’t understand, we ought to obey in faith.
I have seen this type of uncertainty or wariness regarding various things God has commanded:
“I don’t understand why I have to be baptized?”
“Why shouldn’t I have sex before I’m married?”
“Do I really have to forgive this person who hurt me?”
These are perfectly legitimate questions to ask and consider and study, especially if you don’t understand why. It is not my intent to say that you shouldn’t ask questions and come to understand God better through study and prayer and consideration. The intent of bringing this up is that sometimes people will ask a question like the one above and think that by simply asking the question, they’ve negated whatever responsibility they might have. Just because at this moment you don’t understand why God is asking you to be baptized, or to abstain from fornication, or to forgive someone who hurt you, doesn’t mean that there isn’t a reason you have yet to understand or appreciate. It simply means you don’t know the reason yet. It is part of faith to trust in God even if you don’t understand it all right now.
Consider if Abram had not left his home in Ur. If Abram had said, “I won’t take one step until I know exactly where I’m going first,” then he would not have been blessed by God. He would not have been promised descendants more numerous than the stars in heaven. His people would not have been promised the land of Canaan to dwell in. His offspring would not have produced the Messiah, blessing all the nations of the earth. Abram would have missed out on all the blessings of God without trusting God and putting his faith into action.
What blessings may you be missing out on by not living out your faith as God has called you to? It’s okay to not know where you’re going, because God is with you, and he has promised to never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). Trust him in that promise and live out your faith.
