Don’t Settle For Good And Miss God!

Following God requires a life of obedience. Being obedient does not just happen all at once. Our life journey is a process and we are all in different places in our journey. If you are like I am I get frustrated with the process at times when there are delays.

Have you ever been stalled in traffic, trying to be somewhere at a specific time. Or have you made plans to go somewhere or do something and a monkey wrench was thrown in the mix, friends, family, weather or the car breaking down.

What we must realize and be fully aware of that no matter the delay God is still in control and must reign over our lives.

Let’s look at Abraham and draw some applications from his life to help us through our journey.

Hebrews 11:8-10 (NIV)

8 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. 9 By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

This is not the whole story let’s dig a little deeper:

Genesis 12:1-2 (NIV)

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

2“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great,

And you will be a blessing.

Look at the words (Had Said) This was Abrams second call by God to the same mission. Read further with me

Acts 7:2-4 (NKJV)

2 And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.

Here we read about the first call while Abram was living in the Pagan City of Ur of Chaldees.

God tells Abram to leave his native land his kin and his fathers house. This is not what Abram did. What happened?

Genesis 11:31-32 (NKJV)

31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

The false religion of astrology was practiced there as it was in all Babylonia. Abraham's father, Terah according to Joshua 24:2, worshiped idols. Jewish tradition refers to Terah as an idol maker. Ur was an idolatrous city worshiping many different Gods such as the god of fire, moon, sun and stars. Sin was the name of the chief idol deity of Ur. Ningal, was the wife of the moon-god, Sin, and was worshiped as a mother God in many other cities. Ur was a evil and sinful city as can be seen in the worship practices of the moon-goddess, Ningal. Every female in the city at some time in her life would have to take her turn in serving as a priestess prostitute in the temples.

Scripture says Terah took Abram, which means to lay hold of. I believe Abram was delayed in his call, he was distracted by Life, His Family, and did not receive the encouragement he needed from them. Abram had to learn just as we do how to work through the delays of life.

God understands better than we do about our process and instructs us to Grow.

2 Peter 3:18 (NKJV)

18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Intimacy with God is a process and we must continue to learn and apply God’s word to our lives.

Are you slipping and sliding around in the same old mud? We must hold nothing back, and never hold something so close to our heart that keeps us away from the promises of God.

2 Corinthians 1:20 (NIV)

20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.