Devotions with Pastor Donny

Trusting As I Go
Genesis 11:27, 31-32.
27 This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there. 32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.

Terah (the father of Abram) and his family chose to radically relocate their lives for the purposes of God. They left Ur of the Chaldeans and set out for Canaan, the land that would someday embody so many promises for the people of God. But they didn’t make it. They did not see it through. They settled themselves down in Harran and they never got going until after Terah died.

I am sure many of us can remember times when we have left things behind and set out for the purposes of God. However, just like Terah and his family, it’s possible for us to get stuck along the way. It can be easy to settle for less than God’s best for our lives. We can miss reaching the true destination, the place of hope… perhaps when the path seems to be taking too much time, or the calling is too demanding, or the journey ahead is filled with too many shifting shadows?

There is a powerful song from Michael Card that speaks to this theme from scripture.
What will it take to keep you from Jesus
Keep you from heeding His call
The simple excuse of a heart that is hard
A reason that's nothing at all
And how long before you stop with your reasons
Take your defenses away
It's only a lie that keeps you from following
Don't let it stand in your way
So many excuses and so many lies
Are blocking the Light and the Way
But the final decision to follow the Lord
Can shatter and blow them away

God, I apologize for the times where I have settled too quickly and sold out too easily. I know that this is risky faith to which you have called me. Grant me the courage to allow myself to be abandoned to your purposes and plans. I ask your Holy Spirit to inspire me to make the final decision to follow- that can shatter and blow all my excuses away. May I continue to live in the trust that You’ll be with me as I go. Amen!
Pastor Donny