The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1, NLT)
Pebble Beach Golf Links, like Augusta National or St. Andrews, occupies a unique place for many golfers. It is a course they know well without having played there.
Many golf fans likely have an approach in their mind for playing famous courses if they ever get the chance (whether their excitement would let them pull it off is another question, for sure!). In this way, these courses are different than those upstate or at the resort where we will vacation this summer. These less famous courses are altogether unknown to us, and we’re not quite sure how to approach them.
The accounts of God’s people really get going with the call of Abram, a common man living in Ur of the Chaldeans. Though Abram had no known reference for God, he recognized that the voice of the Lord was a real thing, not an imaginative longing formed in his own mind. This was important, because what God was asking Abram to do was something we have nearly all faced at one time or another: an unfamiliar, uncomfortable change.
Among the things Abram could not see about this promise was that God was speaking not only of descendants of his flesh but descendants of his faith.Before we go any further, however, let us stand reminded that the Scriptures tell us far more about God than they do ourselves. Each of us has gone through our own times of change, but God has gone through them all. He knows the bends in my road and yours and everyone else’s. So we can trust that he will lead us to the end he has in sight.
For Abram, God’s end has never come. Alongside his directions for Abram (who would become Abraham), God revealed a promise: Abram’s descendants would be innumerable. Among the things Abram could not see about this promise was that God was speaking not only of descendants of his flesh but descendants of his faith. Paul told the Romans: “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham” (Romans 4:16).
God may call you to assignments you never imagined, and your first impulse may be to balk at these. But remember how God knows tomorrow and far beyond. In faith, trust his leading. In obedience, follow his voice.
—
Jeff Hopper
June 14, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
OTHER DEVOTIONS IN THIS SERIES
On Location 1: Gathering Together
On Location 2: Then and Now
On Location 4: Partners in Ministry
On Location 5: Making Connections
On Location 6: The Round Ahead
On Location 7: Helping Others
On Location 8: Stepping Out
On Location 9: Lifelong Learning
On Location 10: Tough Stuff
On Location 11: Learning Together
On Location 12: A Good Solid Why
On Location 13: Room for Reflection