Get Moving

 

I'm sure you've all heard the statement that "you cannot steer a parked car". Pretty obvious statement, really. If a couple thousand pounds of steel and iron is sitting still, twisting a steering wheel in circles will do nothing.

I actually have this stupid habit while going through a drive thru where I simply slip our truck into neutral. I'm not sure why, maybe I'm just bored, maybe I'm afraid the truck knows better than I do about the junk food I'm about to ingest, so I'm just making sure it doesn't make a run for it. Whatever the case, I often do it. And yet, almost just as often, I tend to forget I just did it. So, we get the food, I release the brake and step on the gas and rev the engine nice and loud... As I roll backwards towards the guy behind me that was probably too close in the first place...

Steering a parked car or revving the engine while in neutral. Both actions get us nowhere. We have so much power and freedom within our grasp, but if we don't put the vehicle in drive and start moving, what good does it do for us?

One of the questions most Christians ask is, what is God's will for my life? Seeking God's will, for me, has never been easy. Every time I've come to a crossroads, people say "Pray about it." So I do. And yet rarely, in fact never, has God suddenly spoken out of the clouds and thundered "Go that way!". In this day and age, how do we know what to do?

Have you ever felt God speaking to you? Have you been moved to do something or to go somewhere, but you just don't know what or where? I believe that God has a purpose for each one of us. But, sometimes it seems that he could maybe be a little more liberal with the details, don't you think?

Scripture Reading - Genesis 12:1-9

We all know the stories of Abraham. We likely have heard the story of him being asked by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. But the story I want to focus on today is the start of his recorded journey as a man of great faith. When Abraham was 75 years old, he received a call from God. Let's read about it in Genesis 12:1-9:

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you. ”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land. ” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

What really strikes me about this passage is the lack of details that were given. Lets first examine the call.

 

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

Go. Leave your country. Leave your people. Leave your home. Go.

If I was Abram, I think I would've had a few questions. At least one very specific question, which way? God doesn't specify any further details, not that we read here anyways. God simply says, Go. Pack up, say goodbye, and start walking.

Sounds like a pretty dangerous, open ended calling. Many of us wouldn't do as well as Abram did I'm sure.

There is a belief out there that if we cannot see, it is impossible for us to move in a straight line. In fact, we will actually move in circles instead. If you ever watch the show Mythbusters, you may have seen the episode where they took on this belief to find out if it was a myth or not. In the episode, they walked, swam and drove while blindfolded. In all the cases they tested, they were never able to move in a straight line. They attempted the same tests multiple times with the only consistency between the tests being that they didn't go straight. In one test they walked left, in the next right, in another they circled multiple times.

Jaime states that "Trying to walk in a straight line while being blindfolded is an exercise in futility because without any cues like vision or sounds... you're relying on purely mechanical means of determining your direction. But you're fluid, you're not like a machine. You can kind of meander and wander."

I find it very interesting that we, as humans, are so dependent on our sense of sight. Without vision, we go in circles. How true that is in life in general. Without vision, without a sense of direction, we either sit with our car in neutral, or we go in meaningless circles.

God didn't specify what direction Abram was to take, but it does say that when Abram left he "set out for the land of Caanan." How Abram knew to go in this direction, I'm not sure. Abram was in touch with God, and had a close enough relationship with Him, that while he didn't know exactly what God wanted, he seemed to have a rough idea. God only said that He would show him where to go. If we were to start walking blindfolded, left to our own devices we would walk in circles. But, as God stated here for Abram, we aren't on our own. God won't allow us to walk in circles. As blind as we may feel that we are, we need to rest assured that God will steer us ever so gently in the direction he wishes us to travel.

 

While God didn't give Abram specific details about the journey he was about to embark upon, he did give him some great assurances.

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you. ”

God tells Abram that he will be made into a great nation, that his name will be great and that God's blessings will be upon him. God would bless those that blessed Abram, and even curse those that cursed him.

Abram didn't ask for these things. This was purely God's idea. This was entirely God's choosing. If Abram was seeking these things for his own purposes, I have a feeling that his journey wouldn't have ended up be nearly as successful. If he was setting out on his own to make name for himself, it likely wouldn't have happened. It surely wouldn't have happened to the degree of greatness that his name now still holds.

God's blessings and assurances likely put Abram at peace and at ease. Abram didn't have to sweat the details. He wasn't worried about going right or left, because he knew God was with him.

If we flash forward many years to the life of Joshua we see a man also of great faith, who also stood at the beginning of a great journey and needed God's assurances.

In the beginning of the book of Joshua, God encourages him three times to "be strong and very courageous". Joshua had the impossible task of leading a bunch of farmers into the Promised Land to take over walled cities fortified with stone and rock and protected by powerful armies. Pitchforks against swords, I suppose being encouraged to be courageous was likely quite necessary.

Let's read a portion of this passage, Joshua 1:5 and 6:

No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

God doesn't say "Joshua, you are a great man. You've exercised regularly, you are very fit and stronger than an ox. You can beat these guys". Not even close. God simply says, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you." Swords, spears and walls of rock don't stand a chance.

One of my favorite passages is found in Romans chapter 8, specifically verse 31:

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

God maybe called Abram out on a very risky and unknown adventure. But he made sure that Abram realized that he wasn't alone. Was it unorthodox? Yes, for sure. In those days, families stuck together. Families lived in the same place, generation after generation. You didn't just pack up and leave your parents. Nowadays, we can't seem to get away fast enough. But in Abram's day, it was almost unheard of to do such a thing. Was it open ended? Most definitely. If any of us were to receive the same calling today, would we know what direction to go? Yet it was filled with assurances. Did it really matter which way Abram went? Maybe in the long run, but God was more concerned that he simply started moving.

 

And Abram did. The next verse says that at 75 years of age, Abram packed up his family and set out for Canaan.

I checked Google Maps. Of course, the highways didn't exist then that do now, and I'm not 100% sure of where Harran was exactly, nor where he ended up in Caanan. But, if the many maps that exist on the internet of this journey are to be believed, this journey was probably over 800 kilometers long! On foot. With donkeys, sheep and cattle. With kids, women and servants. Over desert lands. I'm not sure how far they could've walked in a day, but many assume maybe 20 kilometers with such a group. If that was true, that means they were out walking the desert for 40 days. Can you imagine? I wonder Abram had any doubts about his choice. Am I going in the right direction? Should I have gone south? Maybe east instead?

And it wasn't until he arrived at Caanan that God finally spoke and said "to your offspring I will give this land."

Finally, a word of confirmation from God. It wasn't the GPS voice saying "You have reached your destination". But it was confirming the direction Abram was going. His offspring would receive this land. Not necessarily he himself, but his kids or his grandkids.

What is most impressive to me about this entire story was Abram's obedience. God said 'Go' and Abram went. He didn't hesitate. He didn't question. He didn't ask for more directions, or for more information. He packed up his things, and he started moving.

There are a few examples of this type of faith and obedience throughout the scriptures. I would like to look at a couple of them this morning.

The first is the Israelites crossing the Jordan, found in Joshua 3:14-17.

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea ) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

The faith that Joshua and these priests displayed is actually quite remarkable. God told them to go, and they went. However, God didn't say "Here, I stopped the river so you can cross. Get up and go across." No, the priests had to actually step into the water. Did they know that God was going to stop the water? Well, they may have had an idea that might happen due to many, many years ago when Moses led their fathers and grandfathers across in a similar manner. But, there were no signs this was going to happen again. In fact, the river was at flood stage! Remember just a few months ago when the rivers here were flooding our banks? If there were no bridges, and God told you to go to the other side, would you just walk into the river carrying the Ark of the Covenant, weighing hundreds of pounds, on your shoulder? I know if it was me, I would probably have the faith and the energy to head down to the edge, but once I got to the edge, and if nothing had happened, would I continue? The priests had to actually step into the edge before the waters parted. But the fact is, they did. They moved, believing that God would come through. They had faith that God would reveal the way. And He did. He stopped the waters, and piled them up a great distance away so that the entire people of Israel could walk across on dry ground.

The next example I want to discuss is Jesus himself. Let's read Matthew 14:15-21.

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

“We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

“Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

This story happens immediately after Jesus had just heard the news that John the Baptist had been be-headed by King Herod. Jesus withdrew to get away from the crowds, yet the crowds followed him. First of all, the compassion Jesus has for us is incredible. Not too many of us would've been able to put up with that. In fact, the disciples knew what had happened, and I'm sure many of them were grieving too. In fact, that would likely explain their reaction to the crowd when they tried to convince Jesus to send the crowd away when it was time to eat.

But, Jesus doesn't. And, while his compassion here is incredible and likely a sermon in itself, what I want to focus on is his act of faith. The only food they had in this crowd of 5000 men, as well as women and children, was a basket containing two fish and five loaves of bread. Not even enough to feed Jesus and his disciples! Yet, Jesus commands his disciples to bring the food to him, and he directs everyone to sit and he gave thanks. At this point, again if it was me and I had passed the test of faith to this point, I probably would be saying grace with one eye closed, and one eye peaking at the basket, hoping it suddenly starting multiplying. If, after saying grace, there was still only 5 loaves and 2 fish, a lesser man would've likely hung his head and sent everyone away. I guess I was wrong. This wasn't what God was going to do, this must not be how he was going to act. Go home, see you all later. Yet, Jesus doesn't hesitate. He doesn't miss a beat. Instead, he breaks the bread, and starts passing it around. And it wasn't until this act that the miracle began. It wasn't until Jesus pushed passed the barriers of doubt that God acted.

And, then of course, we have the example we already read about this morning with Abram. God told him to go, and he went. And it wasn't until 40 some days later that Abram received confirmation that he was heading in the right direction.

Are you at a crossroads? Do you hear God calling, do you feel him leading? Are you moving? Or are you sitting quietly, awaiting further instructions? What if those are all the instructions you are going to get? What if God wants you to get your feet wet? What if he wants you to break the bread, and then start passing it around?

Does God want you to start a ministry to the poor? Does God want you to step out and go in a completely new direction? Has he laid someone, or something, on your heart yet you are just not quite sure what to do about it?

These examples we've read about this morning show us that just sitting and waiting is not the answer. We need to Go. We need to move. We need to kick that truck out of neutral and start rolling.

How do we apply this in real life? This sounds all well and good, but then Monday morning rolls around, reality bites again, and suddenly the clouds roll over and confusion reigns. How do we start moving when we don't know the direction, when we don't know how or when God will act?

The first thing is obviously to spend time in prayer and in His Word. Abram, the priests and, of course, Jesus were all men that were close with God. They worshipped God, they spent time in His presence. They knew they could trust Him, whatever the circumstances.

The second thing would be to consider what, or who, God has laid as a burden on your heart. And then start thinking of ways you could move in that direction. Has God laid a burden on your heart for homeless people? Then volunteer at the Coffee Cart Wednesday nights. Go down to and volunteer at the local soup kitchen or shelter. Or, maybe God has laid missions on your heart, yet you can't see how you could actually do that. So, plan a trip to the closest missions training center. Call and inquire about the many different organizations. Attend a Missions conference.

The point is, start moving. God doesn't expect you to put your truck into gear, and suddenly be going 100 miles an hour down the road. He just wants movement.

Maybe you don't know where God wants you. Maybe you don't really have a burden for missions, or the homeless. But you feel God wants you to serve. Then start serving. Start serving the homeless. Start serving your church. Start moving in a direction so that God can use that movement to steer you in the direction He wants you to go.

God is the master of the spontaneous. We love to plan and detail every aspect of our futures. We save for retirement, we save for our kids' educations. We plan out our trips, when will we visit family, when will we travel on vacation, when will we go to the beach.

God says in James chapter 4 verses 13-15:

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

God wants us to move. God desires to show himself faithful. God wants us to trust Him, to rest in Him. God doesn't want us to solidify ourselves in our own securities of future planning and risk management strategies.

If God is calling you, get off that couch. Get off that chair. Put that truck into neutral and head towards Canaan. God will reveal himself to you. God will direct your paths, and make your ways straight. But first, you are required to step forward in obedience.