The Problem with Not Knowing

by Keith Gardner

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 (NIV)]

 Abram was comfortably living with his father, doing what all good sons of his time did; working for and living under the protection and provision of his dad. When God asked Abram to leave his family He was also asking him go against the culture and social norms of the day. There is no doubt that this was a huge request. To Abram the request must have not only sounded odd, but it must have been a very frightening idea. Like the prodigal son of Jesus’ New Testament story, Abram would have asked for and received his inheritance. Afterwards, he set off for a new place not knowing where he was going.

Genesis lays out for us the Spirit lead adventures of Abram. We get to relive and witness the successes and failures of this man’s quest to obey God. And if we give pause and thought to the journey, we begin to see ourselves. For it is in our own faith journey as we feel the fear of not knowing what tomorrow holds, we step out, doing what the Spirit leads us to do. Those ideas seem strange. They are not reflected in the lives of those around us; they do not fit within the culture and the norms of the day. New ways always require new paths, and new paths require faithful and obedient trailblazers.

The problem with not knowing where I am going is having to deal with normative expectations. Only there is nothing normal here and those old expectations do not fit within the reality of my new adventures. If I am not careful distress, discouragement and eventually disillusionment will set in. “This is not what I bargained for. The journey is too hard; the expectations are too much. How can I know what to do next when, even now, I do not understand where I am?”

The faith journey requires faith; but too often our faith is in what we know and not in who God is. A faith journey in a new direction necessitates closely listening to and implicitly following the leading of the Holy Spirit. Our scriptural guidance is this; “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” [Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)].

This journey ends when its purpose is fulfilled, and the pace is quickened when the path’s confusing twists and turns are made straight. These paths are only made straight by learning to follow closely behind the leading of the Holy Spirit. While the reward is successfully coming to the end of the journey, the lesson learned is the joy found thorough obedience born out of a love for the Father.

"Then I said: "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands,” [Nehemiah 1:5 (NIV)]