Abandon

Week 47, Weekend

Rita Salter

The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. . . . So Abram went, as the Lord had told him. Genesis 12:1,4 (hcsb)

The call is not that literal for all of us. We aren’t all called to go to a land far away, but we are called to abandon everything for Him.

For me, the call was literally to another country, another culture, away from my family and everything familiar. I sold my truck, my horse, and my house. I was ready to abandon everything for the opportunity to follow God overseas. But did I really leave everything behind? After returning home from my first term, I realized I had not. During the first worship service in my heart language, we began singing the familiar song “I Surrender All.” I became judgmental and even angry at God. “I don’t want to surrender everything! These people don’t realize the words they are singing! I don’t want to give up my friends. I didn’t agree to that.” You see, I expected to resume my normal life when I returned. I expected my friendships to be the same, but they weren’t. I had been hanging on to them. God said, “If I am to have full control of your life, you have to be willing to let everything go—even your friends.”

What are you hanging on to? What is the Lord asking you to leave behind? Is it a job, a group of friends, certain movies or books? Where is the Lord calling you to go? Is it to a new job, to the person next door, to work at the mission, or to some unfamiliar or uncomfortable place? Maybe He just said, “Go to a place that I will show you.” He commands all of us to go somewhere. Have you found God to be faithful? If not, then you have not been stepping out in faith. It does not require a supernatural human to step out in faith. All you need is the faith of a child—sincere faith. What is preventing you? Do you not believe God is who He says He is? It is so easy to say the words, but it takes sincere faith to really believe and act on those words.

Father, You are the faithful One. Increase my faith. Give me the courage to simply believe that You are who You say You are. Continue to guide me one step at a time and take me through beautiful, unexplored lands. Thank You. I praise Your name. Amen.