Stay or Go?

I've written a post already about waiting.  However, I think for certain this is probably my own greatest struggle, and probably others as well.  For this reason I think it deserves another look, from another angle.  I'm currently waiting for God to move in a number of ways in respect to a number of things.  The things I am waiting on are things I believe He has either put in my heart to do or burdened R. And I to do together.  Some of these things are also tied to moving out of our current home to somewhere else.  I've mentioned previously that God dealt with me about moving in my post  My Way or His Way?  Coming to a place of peace about moving or not moving has been very critical for me to have, in order for us to have a clear mind and heart and know that it's actually God moving when the time comes.

 All of this thinking about moving and big God ordered things happening has led me to think about when God called Abraham to leave where he was and go to a land he didn't know; but one God called him into.  "The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you."(Genesis 12:1 NIV84). So he went.  Because he knew it was the Lord and because he trusted Him, he left all that was familiar to him and headed to somewhere unknown.  How many of us would actually do this?  With no knowledge of how something will work out in the end, how many of us would take such a huge leap of faith?  I'm a planner.  I like plans.  If I were Abraham I would be wanting a laid out map of the journey.  I would want to go over contingencies.  But Abraham didn't do this.  He just went.  And he took his nephew Lot with him.

 The other day R. And I were talking about some of the possibilities in connection to the possible move and I told him, "I don't know why, but for whatever reason every possibility we've discussed seems good, but doesn't quite feel right.". R. agreed.  I then said, "It makes me wonder if God has something entirely different altogether." R. reminded me of all the times in our life up to this point where we just felt a peace about stepping out and doing something.  "That's what we're waiting for." he said.   "We don't do something or go somewhere because it looks good or seems nice. We wait until we know that it's God, and then we go no matter what."

 A wise statement from a wise husband.  And what he said brings me back to Abraham who is now living with his family and Lot and his family and things are getting too crowded.  With not enough space for both of them, it's time to split ways.   Abraham makes a wise decision.  He decides to let Lot decide which way HE wants to go.  "Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right, I'll go to the left.” (Genesis 13:9 NIV84). Correct me if you think I'm wrong on this, but in allowing his nephew to choose first, Abraham is essentially letting God be master over where he will go.  And this is what Lot does, "Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, towards Zoar..."(Genesis 13:10 NIV84). Lot picks the land that looks nice to him.  He chooses the one that seems better. "Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom." (Genesis 13:12 NIV84). But most of us know what happened later on.  Most of us know about Sodom and Gomorrah and what a disaster of a place that ended up being.

 The big lesson in all of this is one about how we go about make big life decisions.  Number One:  We wait.  If God puts something in our heart to do or somewhere to go, He will do it.  We step out in faith and do our part, but ultimately He DOES NOT need our help to get it done.  Number Two:  We don't do things in life just because they look or seem good.  I can't tell you how many times I've watched both believing and unbelieving friends make "seems great" or "looks great" decisions. Things went well for a while, but eventually it became very clear why the decision was a poor one. If we love God, we must check our hearts.  Do we want to live for Him or do we want to do our own thing and involve Him only when we want His approval?  In my own life God faced me with this question and I realized that I truly wanted His way and needed to change my perspective from making my own plans to waiting on His.   When we do this, we can be confident that when our answer comes to what we've been waiting for, we'll know its from God.