Promised Land

When God led Abraham to the Promised Land, He told him to leave his country and his relatives and to go forth “to the land I will show you” (Gen 12:1).  God didn’t tell Abraham where he was going, He just told Abraham to “go,” and Abraham went.  The writer of Hebrews says, “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.”  Listen to me brothers and sisters, Abraham did not put his faith in where he was being led, or how he imagined it would turn out, or in his circumstances at hand, Abraham put his faith in a Person.  Abraham put his faith in God, regardless of his circumstances and regardless of his anxious anticipations.

Hundreds of years passed, and many things happened from the time that Abraham took his first faithful step toward the Promised Land, to the day that Joshua led the nation of Israel across the Jordan River to finally settle there.  But Abraham’s act of faith in God eventually led to the day that Joshua stood before the nation of Israel by the East bank of the Jordan River and told them, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the …priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before…” (Josh 3:3,4).  The ark was God’s visible presence among the Israelites, and just like Abraham, the nation of Israel had to follow God along a path that they had never traveled before.

They didn’t put their faith in where they were going or how they thought things were going to turn out, they put their faith in a Person. They put their faith in the presence of God among them, and followed Him along a way that they had never been before.  Joshua told the Israelites that they would know which way to go by keeping their eyes on the ark.  As they crossed over the Jordan into a land that was unknown to them, they pointed their eyes toward the presence of God, not their circumstances or destination.

After many years in the Promised Land, Israel turned away from God and God sent them prophets to speak truth to them, and turn them back to Him.  The land of Israel was filled with sin, and God called Israel a “rebellious people, false children, children unwilling to listen to the instruction of the Lord.” Therefore the prophet Isaiah spoke God’s word to them, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.” Israel trusted more in their leaders, political treaties, and economy than they did in God and they were manic in their fear, “a thousand will flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you will all flee until your are left alone.” Isaiah told them to stop freaking out and trust God because “He longs to be gracious to you, therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the Lord is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.” (Isaiah 30:9-18)

Today, we now find ourselves in days similar to what Israel experienced.  We find ourselves in a situation in which we are going along a way that we have never traveled before.  We are in a situation in which we are coming face to face with the truth of what we have truly put our trust in.  God promised Israel that when they cried out to Him, He would be “gracious at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He will answer you.” God didn’t say He would deliver them from their trial, but He did promise that He would answer them.  He promised that He would meet them at their mustard seed, because it is our trials and adversities that expose the genuineness of our faith (1 Peter 1:6-9).  Isaiah told the Israelites that, “The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him. And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you:  ‘This is the way. Walk in it.’” (Isaiah 30:19-21)

Our faith is not to be put in anything else but our Teacher, Jesus Christ.  We don't need to know where we are going in the days ahead, because our Teacher is also our destination.  When Jesus no longer hides Himself and we see Him with our own eyes, we will be gathered to Him, because He is our Promised Land.