One Step at a Time

No question about the faith of Abraham.  When the writer of Hebrews put together his roll call of the faithful saints, Abraham received much more than just notable mention.  "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out not knowing where he was going..."  (Hebrews 11:8)  And, of course, as we read his story as it stretches through a major section of Genesis, we see reason after reason why his faith is held up in an exemplary manner.

When we read that story of Abraham, what we do not see is a picture of a man who always got it right the first time.  He made more than his share of mistakes.  When he made the decision to have a child by a slave woman, we see him choosing to take matters in his own hands.  It is as if he needed to create a Plan B since God was not delivering on Plan A.  There were other times he maneuvered things around as a way of protecting himself instead of trusting in God to provide the protection implied in the promise which was to take him to a new land.  Despite those moments when he seems to waver, he kept coming back to this trust in God in such a way as to merit his place in that great roll call of the faithful saints.

 

God does not require perfection in performance from us.  What He asks is a radical dependence on Him to do what He has said He would do.  Some times we seem to get it and some times we obviously miss the mark.  Like Abraham we are to keep pushing forward into that life of learning what it means to depend on God to be God.  It is never as easy as some might pretend it to be, but as we continue to move forward aware of how the Spirit is working in our lives, we are able to see the way forward which is really just the next step.  When we are called to this journey of faith, the call is about taking the next step with faith.  Some live by the one day at a time motto.  We live by the one step at a time.