Genesis 12 tells the story of when God came to Abraham and told him to leave his homeland, his country, and his family. He called Abraham to go to a land that He would reveal to Him. He wouldn’t know the destination until he arrived. He had to journey in faith. With these instructions came a promise: if you will trust Me in this journey, then you will be blessed. I will bless your seed, and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
God told Abraham that He would be his GPS. He wouldn’t have all the directions for the journey in advance, but God would lead and guide him each step of the way. God was calling him on a pilgrimage of faith. This would be a pilgrimage that would transform his life and bring him into a deeper experience with God than he’d ever imagined.
God calls each of us to undertake a pilgrimage. He wants to take us places we’ve never been, and we don’t know in advance how to get there. But God expects us to take this journey by faith. Step by step, we move along in the confidence that God, our personal GPS, knows exactly where He is taking us.
God calls each of us to undertake a pilgrimage.
For this journey, the only thing we have to know is who we are following. We follow Him by attending to the words He has given us in Scripture. We follow Him as we listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who shows us how to apply these truths to each step we take. We move ahead by faith.
You and I will never arrive where God wants us to be if we are not willing to move by faith. If you have to have everything all mapped out beforehand, this means that you aren’t living by faith. Living by sight is so much different than living by faith. God wants you to trust in Him because He is trustworthy. Even when the way is unclear and doesn’t make sense to us, we must trust in Him, just as Abraham did.
Hebrews 11 tells us that Abraham was looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. If you and I are going to live our life’s journey by faith, like Abraham we need an eternal perspective. We must keep our eyes open toward heaven if we want clarity about the steps we need to take on earth. We must possess eyes of faith.
A journey is made up of a lot of decisions and choices.
A journey is made up of a lot of decisions and choices. So are our lives. We have so many questions: Should I go here or there? Where should I work? Whom should I marry? How should I spend my money? Our answers to these questions will determine our destination.
Many of us have regrets about times we turned in the wrong direction or followed the wrong path. It looked right at the time, but it ended up being wrong. The difference between God and us is that He has a long-term view . . . and we are short-sighted.
You have a life to live, a journey to travel, and a pilgrimage to take. Keep your eyes focused on heaven so that God can guide you on earth. When you journey with God’s guidance, you’ll wind up in the place of blessing—exactly the place that God has prescribed for your life. He’ll get the glory, you’ll get the good, and others will be blessed by the life you’ve lived.
