When God Says Go

God told Abram to go, and so, he went.What do you do when God says, Go?

• I was afraid . . . so I stayed.
• I was feeling entitled . . . so I ignored His words.
• I was low on money . . . so I didn’t donate to the family going to Africa on a mission trip.
• I didn’t want to go alone . . . so I went to where my friends were.
• I was angry . . . so I didn’t offer forgiveness.

We don’t know how much time passed between God’s command to Abram to go, and Abram’s decision to go. Minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks? Scripture doesn’t say. Might we assume that Abram took some time to think about what he was going to do? We would. He had family to consider, a home, land, slaves, livestock. It had to have been as big a deal for him to pick up and pack up and move to an unknown place as it would be for us to do that today.

Did he talk it over with his wife, Sarai? Did he measure the square footage of all his stuff to be sure it would fit on the camels? Did he and Lot discuss the particulars of what a move would mean to their families and their futures? Did he lay awake at night sorting through all his feelings and fears, wondering what in the world God was asking of him? Again, we don’t know.

What we know is that God said, Go, and Abram went. And even though he had no idea how it was all going to turn out (Hebrews 11:8), he went anyway.

Is there a “Go” God is speaking to you this new year? It could be a big Go, like Abram’s was, but more likely, it will be a little Go, a daily Go, one that doesn’t require a moving van or a new mortgage.

• Go talk to that new neighbor or person at church who sits alone.
• Go give money to that teenager who is spending the summer in Haiti working at an orphanage.
• Go write that encouraging note, go take that college student to coffee, go volunteer where the need is great.

We ask God every day to speak clearly because our heart’s desire is to go where He leads, settle where He tells us to settle, be a blessing to those He wants us to bless.

And then He does. And then we’re not so sure.

This is the year that when I hear God say, Go, it will be said of me, So . . . she went, so . . . she gave, so . . . she sacrificed.

What will it be for you?

Go, God says.

So . . .