Well maybe not "just moved." Its been a little over a month since I moved to San Antonio. Nothing too exciting, I've moved plenty of times in my life, and people do it everyday. But this one was big for me. This is the first time in my life that I am living by myself. Its one of the milestones to becoming an adult I guess. Graduate from high school: check. Graduate from college: check. Get a job: check. Move out on your own: check. All that's left is get married and start a family:_______. Well I still have time for that one, but I digress...
This whole moving thing is not all that out of the ordinary, in fact it is pretty much expected. I expected it out of myself. Its just what you do. You go out and make a name for yourself. Historically you head west and tame a little piece of the wild frontier. Western Expansion, Manifest Destiny, and all that jazz. But, there is not much wild frontier around anymore, so you just go wherever you want, or maybe more like wherever the jobs are. But even though it is expected and people have been going out on their own for hundreds if not thousands of years, it can still be a little scary. And sometimes you wonder if you are where you're "supposed to be."
I suppose its my current circumstances, but the story of Abraham has been on my mind recently.
Abraham was an interesting guy. He was just living his life and then God shows up. God tells Abraham to leave everything he has ever know behind, go to some far off land, but also makes a promise of greatness to Abraham. I don't even know if Abraham knew who God was, but he agrees and goes. Typically Abraham is considered a hero of the faith and usually assumed to have this awesome relationship with God. But reading through the story, I wonder how strong his faith was. Abraham doesn't really trust God all the time. I wonder how many years go by between the times God talked to Abraham? I think that Abraham is not all that different from me. Sometimes God is silent, and you wonder if he is still there, or if he even cares. You don't see God working so you try to do it yourself, or just think about giving up.
I find Abraham's story kind of funny. He gets to the land God is promising and sets up camp. A drought comes along, God doesn't seem to be anywhere, so Abraham leaves for Egypt. He lies to Pharaoh, and should be killed, but he instead he is sent away free and with a lot of stuff. Where God seemed absent, he was actually just working behind the scenes. Even in Abraham's disobedience God was working to bless Abraham and come through on his promise. And that pattern happens time and time again in the story.
The thing is that God never promised Abraham he would hold his hand the whole way. He just said "Go, and I will make your name great." He didn't even say when that was going to happen. I think we have to just know that God is going to be silent sometimes. But silence does not mean absence or abandonment. I think we can learn from the story of Abraham that God is involved in our lives even when we don't know it. Sometimes I wonder if it was all about Abraham learning from the silence. How he lived, what he chose to do, in between the times when he talked with God. Was he going to follow God through the silence or not? Maybe its the same for us. Maybe I'm on to something, or maybe this is just another musing of a modern-day sasquatch
I suppose its my current circumstances, but the story of Abraham has been on my mind recently.
Abraham was an interesting guy. He was just living his life and then God shows up. God tells Abraham to leave everything he has ever know behind, go to some far off land, but also makes a promise of greatness to Abraham. I don't even know if Abraham knew who God was, but he agrees and goes. Typically Abraham is considered a hero of the faith and usually assumed to have this awesome relationship with God. But reading through the story, I wonder how strong his faith was. Abraham doesn't really trust God all the time. I wonder how many years go by between the times God talked to Abraham? I think that Abraham is not all that different from me. Sometimes God is silent, and you wonder if he is still there, or if he even cares. You don't see God working so you try to do it yourself, or just think about giving up.
I find Abraham's story kind of funny. He gets to the land God is promising and sets up camp. A drought comes along, God doesn't seem to be anywhere, so Abraham leaves for Egypt. He lies to Pharaoh, and should be killed, but he instead he is sent away free and with a lot of stuff. Where God seemed absent, he was actually just working behind the scenes. Even in Abraham's disobedience God was working to bless Abraham and come through on his promise. And that pattern happens time and time again in the story.
The thing is that God never promised Abraham he would hold his hand the whole way. He just said "Go, and I will make your name great." He didn't even say when that was going to happen. I think we have to just know that God is going to be silent sometimes. But silence does not mean absence or abandonment. I think we can learn from the story of Abraham that God is involved in our lives even when we don't know it. Sometimes I wonder if it was all about Abraham learning from the silence. How he lived, what he chose to do, in between the times when he talked with God. Was he going to follow God through the silence or not? Maybe its the same for us. Maybe I'm on to something, or maybe this is just another musing of a modern-day sasquatch
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