No Map

When my family would take vacations when I was young, the age of the internet was dawning and so was a program called MapQuest. My dad loved technology and figuring out trips, so MapQuest was used a lot at our house. He loved printing out a “triptik” and having alternate routes and a whole stack of possible plans. It was his holy grail of travel. Now, with kids of my own, we just plug an address into our built-in navigation system and the voice in the car tells us how to get somewhere. We potentially can never get lost. If we think back to the time of Abram, however, he didn’t have modern technology to point the way. When God told him to go, he didn’t plug in the address to the “land God promised” only to follow a mysterious voice until he got to Canaan. Abram trusted God, he most likely learned how to use the sun, moon, and stars as a guide, and he listened to God’s voice. God said go and Abram gathered his family for the ultimate family trip.

Can you imagine having the faith of Abram that it will all work out okay? I don’t even have faith in my own navigational skills to get to locations I’ve been several times, but Abram had faith to just go to unknown territory and set up house. Sometimes what God calls us for is scary, new, uncharted territory as well. He’s not going to print us a “triptik” or pre-program our nav system. He’s going to put His plan on our hearts and his Spirit is going to guide us. God calls us to go, just as He has called the heroes of faith in the Bible. He calls us to leave the comfortable plan we had for ourselves and instead step into the uncomfortable in order to fulfill his plan and promises. We may think we’re okay on the path we are on, going about our career and relationships that we have gotten used to, but sometimes, God has bigger plans. God had bigger plans for Abram, and Abram trusted. Can we do that as well? The next time you feel God’s power moving you into something new and unexpected, look to how he guided Abram and how Abram trusted. Let God navigate you to the next adventure in his plan.

Prayer:
Lord, guide me in your path through your Holy Spirit. Let me put aside my own ways and follow with faith. Help me to see that your plan is good even when it is unknown. Amen.