“Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” (Gen. 12:1-2 NRSV)
One night, I was headed home, and it was so foggy I could not read the road signs off the shoulder. But I was heading home, and I knew the way, so I did not set the GPS. Long story short, I missed my turn and there was nowhere I could see to turn around. I finally turned on the GPS and discovered I had set myself back an hour, and the map was telling me to take a road I had never been down! I made it home, but it was difficult to drive in the fog.
The story of Abram and Sarai, who become Abraham and Sarah, is often a reference point for trusting in God because of how they depend each day on the Lord. On the one hand, have enough funds and resources to liberate prisoners of war (Genesis 14)! On the other hand, the ancient couple had all but given up on having children, which at the time meant that their family’s future was in jeopardy. Their life is full of the tension between what they can control and what they cannot; what they can and cannot handle.
Then they get a divine “re-route” from God to go into the unknown, “to a place I will show you.” Though they say yes, this couple of righteous faith constantly question God’s direction and take wrong turns along the way. They laugh in God’s face and try to manufacture their own plans, which fail. Yet, God is constantly drawing them toward the promise of trusting the Lord and blessing others.
One lesson from this is simply that good leaders are also faithful followers. Abraham and Sarah are at their best when they are trusting and answering to God. If someone is in a position of leadership – perhaps they are a parent, pastor, teacher, shift leader, manager, etc. – then, as a Christian, they are also a follower. Good leaders lead from a place of humility. Be wary and critical of leaders who claim or act as if they have no one to answer to. They are more lost than they are leading. When you lead, be a leader who is honest about how they need guidance.
This story teaches also that our faith is not in our own strength. We are caught in the tension between what we can and cannot control. The lie of self-sufficiency is that we set the goal and all that is preventing us from achievement is our lack of effort. Abraham and Sarah did not only trust God when he arrived. They wrestled with trusting God on the journey each day. They had to let God define what the goal was. This daily trust is credited as righteousness.
No matter the goal set before us, we are travelling through an uncharted road. No one has ever journeyed the path of faith the way you will and that can be scary, like driving through a fog. The temptation is to think we must be flawless, chasing after a perfect version of ourselves, traveling on our own, and missing no turns. But remember, Abraham and Sarah did not know where they were going or how they would get there. They questioned God all along the way, messing things up with their own plans, and even laughing at the audacity of God’s promises on occasion. God has called you to be faithful on your journey alongside others and it will be imperfect. God who has called you is faithful and is able to guide you through.