1 00:00:02,720 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: Life Audio. Thank you for listening to your Daily Bible Verse, 2 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: the podcast that examines one verse each day to learn 3 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: more about God at his will for our lives. I'm 4 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 1: your host, Kyle Norman. After a brief message from one 5 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: of our sponsors, we will continue with today's verse. Today's 6 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: verse can be found in Genesis chapter twelve, Verse one. 7 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: The Lord said to Abram, go from your country, your people, 8 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: and your father's household to the land that I will 9 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: show you. I used to live a few blocks away 10 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,600 Speaker 1: from my neighborhood church. This church sported a lar ornate 11 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: sign upon which they would put faith based messages to 12 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: inspire the passing drivers. These messages oscillated between the corny 13 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: and the theologically flawed. At one point, the sign read quote 14 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: when the answers are simple, God is speaking end quote. 15 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: I think I groaned outwardly the first time I read 16 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: those words. The message declared to all who passed by 17 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: that God's voice was crystal clear. It presented a vision 18 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: of faith removed from the likes of struggle or doubt 19 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: or question. According to the sign, God was in the 20 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: business of easy answers and clear cut solutions. Believe in 21 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:51,000 Speaker 1: God and walk on Easy Street. Well, who wouldn't want 22 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: a gospel like that? The problem is, it's not the 23 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 1: faith I know, nor do I think. This is the 24 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: faith that is seen in scripture. And we can look 25 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: no further than twelve chapters into the Bible, and the 26 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:10,360 Speaker 1: story of Abraham. His journey appears simple enough. God calls 27 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: out to him, go from your country, your people, and 28 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: your father's household to the land that I will show you. 29 00:02:17,280 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: So one of the things, though, that we need to recognize, 30 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: is that this call comes from out of the blue. 31 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:29,480 Speaker 1: There's no indication that Abraham had a full understanding of 32 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: Yahweh at this point, and in fact, it is probably 33 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: more to the point that Abraham belonged to another religious 34 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: system altogether. The first we hear of Abram is biological 35 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: information in Genesis eleven, and then we simply launch into 36 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: this call. And what is this call? The Lord simply 37 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: says go now. Yes. God further speaks of the promise 38 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: of a lineage being the father of many nations. But 39 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 1: God doesn't give any any information regarding where Abraham is 40 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: supposed to go. God simply says, go to the land 41 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: that I will show you. This would be equivalent of 42 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: God saying to you, just start driving and I will 43 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: let you know when you get there. You know, if 44 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: that happened to you, would you jump behind the wheel. 45 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: We often like to think that our faith involves a 46 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 1: certain amount of clarity or certainty when the answers are simple, 47 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,080 Speaker 1: God is speaking, and so we think that believing in 48 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: Jesus lays everything out for us and it makes life 49 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: that much easier to handle. And while it's true that 50 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: faith provides comfort and trial and the assurance of guidance 51 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: by the Holy Spirit, the fact is our faith is 52 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: often expressed in the midst of confusion and unknowing. There 53 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:00,360 Speaker 1: are times when God pushes us beyond our capacity for 54 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: self management so that we have to rely on God's 55 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: wisdom and power. That's what's happening here. The vision of 56 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: faith that we have here in Genesis chapter twelve is 57 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: Abraham walking with God without knowing where he's going, but 58 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: he walks in trust, and he walks in faith. And 59 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: this happens time and time again throughout the scriptures. Just 60 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:27,040 Speaker 1: think about Moses. Moses is called to lead the people 61 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: to the promised Land, but he never knows where the 62 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: path is leading or what's coming around the corner. God 63 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: leads him on a twisty journey where he is often 64 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: stretched beyond anything that he can imagine. That happens with 65 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,800 Speaker 1: Israel as they are called to cross the Jordan into 66 00:04:43,839 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: the Promised Land, and the text says that the waters 67 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,039 Speaker 1: of the Jordan the only part when the feet of 68 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,600 Speaker 1: the people step into the water. So the people had 69 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,359 Speaker 1: to step into a river that they didn't know that 70 00:04:56,440 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: they could cross before God separated the waters for them. 71 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,560 Speaker 1: It happens with Peter jumping out of the boat to 72 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 1: stand on water he didn't think that he could stand upon. 73 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,960 Speaker 1: It happens when Paul the spirit calls him to new 74 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 1: places and he doesn't have an idea of who he 75 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 1: will speak to when he gets there, all through a scripture. 76 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: The vision of faith that we have, the faith that 77 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 1: we adopt ourselves, is rooted in clinging to God during 78 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: seasons and times of not knowing. Faith pushes us into 79 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: the unknown. Faith contains a certain amount of risk because 80 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,279 Speaker 1: there are times where God says, go here, do this 81 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,320 Speaker 1: journey in this way and trust me, and we don't 82 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: have any much more information than that. But when this happens, 83 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:55,040 Speaker 1: the question for us is do we trust God enough 84 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: to walk forward when we don't know what will happen? 85 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 1: Just take a moment and ask yourself, where is God 86 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,360 Speaker 1: calling you? Is God inviting you to consider something new 87 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:09,800 Speaker 1: in your faith life? And it doesn't have to be 88 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: a change of location. Maybe it's entering into a new 89 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: activity or a new ministry. Maybe it's reaching out to 90 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: someone or repairing your relationship. Maybe you're called to accept 91 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: a person or embrace a difference. Is there anything that 92 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:29,119 Speaker 1: God is presenting to you where you might immediately say 93 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:33,719 Speaker 1: I don't know what will happen? Well, what might happen 94 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: if you take just the next step? Because when we 95 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: walk into the places of not knowing what happens is 96 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: that we end up walking into the very way that 97 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: opens us up to miracles and we place ourselves in 98 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: the right space to witness the wonder of God's work 99 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: all around us.