Answers God’s Call

Answers God’s Call

A HERO’S TALE

Abraham was a man of great faith. Nobody argues that. To trust in God the way he did throughout his life was remarkable. But to understand the magnitude of his story, a little history lesson is needed.

Abraham came from Ur, a city in ancient Mesopotamia. As city names go, “Ur” ranks pretty low on the creativity scale. It sounds like the noise you make when you get lima beans for dinner or stub your toe. Urrrrrr!

The ancient Mesopotamians worshiped many false gods. Abraham’s own family did too (see Joshua 24:2). So when God told Abraham —or Abram, as he was called at the time —to leave his home and travel to Canaan, where God would make him into a “great nation” (see Genesis 12:1-3), Abram probably had a lot of questions:

• Who is this God telling me to leave my home country?
• What about all the other gods my family believes in? Aren’t they real too?
• Why do I have to go to Canaan? It’s a difficult, 1,000-mile journey that will take several months.
• What if the Canaanites don’t want me there? And what if I don’t like it?
• To become a great nation, I need children. But how is that possible since my wife, Sarai, has been childless her whole life and is now too old to give birth?

Abram had many reasons to say no to God. But instead, he said yes. Before you could say “stub your toe” in ancient Mesopotamian (nope, no idea how to translate that), he had started his journey.

DECODING THE MESSAGE

In many ways, we’re not that different from Abram. You see, God calls each of us to do something too. He probably won’t call you to travel 1,000 hot, dusty miles on a camel. But he will call you to use your God-given gifts and abilities to serve him somehow. And don’t be surprised if God’s call isn’t what you expected in its timing or purpose. That’s often how he works.

You might not know why God is calling you to do it, or even how to make it happen. But that’s not the point. Abram could’ve used those things as excuses, too, but he didn’t.

Your most important job is to take the first step in faith. True heroes for God answer his call because they know that the God who calls them to do great things will also strengthen them for the task.

God calls all his children to do something. How will you answer?

BATTLE PLAN

Pray about what God is calling you to do for his glory and ask him for the faith to obey.