8/4/2021 – Pastor Brian’s Blog –
July 2021 marked 22 years that Judy and I have been serving as the pastor of Center Barnstead Christian Church. 22 years serving in a place we never wanted to live, doing something we never wanted to do… yet it was EXACTLY where God has wanted us to be.
Has that ever happened to you? Has God asked you to do something that seemed unreasonable? Maybe He asked you to do something that you did not feel qualified to do. Or worse yet, He asked you to turn down a job that you really wanted to do. This has happened to me!!
Would you be willing to follow God if it required you to leave family and friends? What if God asked you to give up your financial security to follow Him? Imagine how Abraham must have felt when God asked him to move his whole family and everything he owned without knowing where God was leading him: By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8)
Walking by faith or walking through the unknown can be filled with many questions, hundreds of “what ifs.” Yet isn’t it true that often in life, God wants us to follow Him while we don’t know where He may be leading us? He asks us to obey his commands to forgive, even if that person has hurt me deeply and doesn’t deserve it. He asks us to give money to someone in need, knowing that you don’t have enough money to pay your own bills. He may ask me start my life over because of the death of a spouse.
Often in life God requires us to do things that will lead us into the scary territories of the unknown, to face consequences that we are unsure of, and God doesn’t even tell us for how long, only that we need to go.
How did Abraham persevere in the face of such unknown, impossible, and unrewarding circumstances? How do we persevere when we face the unknown, when we are asked to do things we do not want to do, or go to places we don’t want to go? How do we persevere when God asks us to do those things that seem beyond us?
We do it the same way the Old Testament heroes of the faith did it. We do it the same way that the church saints did it before us. We remain steadfast, we hold on to the truth that God is sovereign, that He does all things well and that He will not waste our lives if we are willing to do His will.
Yet maybe the greatest motivation came in knowing that God was not embarrassed to be known as their God. The Israelites, instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:16)
Knowing that God is not ashamed of us, that He is preparing a city for us, is a huge comfort when the unknown and the “What ifs” of life try to frighten us off. I reposted a quote on my Facebook page last week from Corrie Ten Boom, a holocaust survivor, who said,
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
Corrie Ten Boom
Chances are God is not going to ask you to do something as extreme as to live in a Nazi concentration camp, yet right now what He has asked of you might seem overwhelming. Take it from someone that felt that way 22 years ago when I came to Barnstead, NH. Take it from Abraham and the millions of saints before us: God is faithful and He will show Himself faithful to you, if you walk into your unknown with Him. Still not sure? Listen to Jesus, who said “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)
In Jesus’ name you can do anything God asks you to do; even step into the unknown!
