Following God

Read This: “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He takes me to lush pastures, he leads me to refreshing water. He restores my strength. He leads me down the right paths for the sake of his reputation. Even when I must walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff reassure me.” (Psalm 23: 1-4)

Think: Our walk with God is a journey. Sometimes it’s a run, sometimes it’s a climb, sometimes through a desert or a storm, but rarely is it a walk in the park. God doesn’t promise following him will be easy and we could each come up with countless excuses to take the short cut. But we don’t follow God because it’s easy; we follow him because we trust him.

In the book of Genesis we see how even Abraham struggled to trust God and follow him at times. God promised him he would be a great nation, but even well into his old age he and his wife didn’t have any children. They decided to take things into their own hands and he had a child with Sarah’s servant. At another point Abraham tells everyone Sarah is his sister, so they wouldn’t be jealous and try to hurt him. But God didn’t give up on Abraham just like He doesn’t give up on us.

In chapter 22 we read one of the most amazing stories of trust and obedience as Abraham leads his beloved son Isaac up a mountain to sacrifice him—a foreshadowing of what God the Father would do for us through his son Jesus. Abraham ties up the boy, places him on the altar, and just as he raises his knife God sends an angel to intervene, saying “now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me” (vs. 12). Abraham had learned to follow God even when it didn’t seem to make any sense. He named that place “The Lord Will Provide.”

To follow God wholeheartedly and with reckless abandonment we need to understand that he is a good God who loves us. He is compassionate when we are hurting, patient when we just don’t get it, and forgiving when we acknowledge our sin. God isn’t eager to lead us into rough territory, but is there with us to guide us through and teach us to trust him more. He might ask hard things of us, but it’s to refine us more into his image. He has our best interest at heart in any and every situation we encounter along the way.

Ask: Fear, laziness, selfishness, and all sorts of other things keep us from following God all the way. Which do you struggle with most?

Pray: Thank God that he is good and we can trust him with everything in our lives. Ask him to give you the strength to follow him wherever he takes you.