Do your part.

We are going to finish off our series by looking at some amazing people in the Bible who finished their God race strong. I think sometimes we get stuck in a bubble where we think being Christian means life will be easy. The Bible doesn’t say that, if anything it paints a whole different picture altogether.

For example, we can look at the story of Abraham and think, “Oh to be called the Father of many nations and the father of faith!” Must be nice. We can easily gloss over the fact that he had to leave his family and everything he knew behind to follow God into the unknown, Genesis 12:1. He waited 25 years for the promise of Isaac to come to pass. 25 years. That is a long time to be waiting for something. It could not have been easy, in fact we know it was not easy because Ishmael happened.

Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86 years old, Genesis 16:16. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old, Genesis 17:16-21. You’d think God will see Abraham barely hanging on at the time the whole Haggai and Ishmael fiasco is happening and bring Isaac to the scene, no. However, this does not mean God is mean or unbothered by our struggles. No.

Abraham had a son in mind, an heir to his earthly possessions. God had nations in mind, a people who would continue the faith, just like Abraham, all the way till our Saviour Jesus was born. God had eternal seed and eternal inheritance in mind.

Abraham was looking at himself and Sarah’s age as a limitation, the God who created the universe considered their age irrelevant. There was a plan in motion and everything had to happen at the right time so our future could be secure. All starting with the obedience of one man. If God had told Abraham the details and intricacies of his destiny, I don’t think Abraham could handle it. It is a lot. God gave Abraham the overview of his destiny not the details. He does the same with us.

God seldom gives us details but the details He withholds are not to torment us, it is to help us so we do not carry the weight of the mission. He gets to carry the weight of the mission. Otherwise, like Abraham, we find ourselves trying to make things happen and we birth Ishmaels instead of waiting for the promise of Isaac.

If we want to be able to finish our God race strong, we need to be willing to trust God with the details of our mission. If God had told Abraham, “You know that son I promised you? Yeah. I need you to be strong in your faith. You will be tested and I am going to need you to pass these tests because out of you is going to come the nation of Israel. I need them to be able to continue your faith and walk with me for about 2000 years so My Son, Jesus, can be born into the world so He can die for humanity. We need to get this right Abraham, the world needs Jesus and it all starts with you.” Talk about pressure. That sort of pressure is enough to kill a man.

So yes, it is hard. Yes, it is difficult to do our faith walk, but it is not impossible. God gives us a glimpse of our part in the puzzle but not the whole picture. We just need to trust God with what He has given us and do our best with it. Abraham was not perfect, God’s plan for your life is not dependent on you being perfect. God’s plans are not feeble or easily frustrated. God has already accounted for you being you and for you making mistakes along the way. Just keep moving ahead with God with the information that you have and trust that in time, whether in this life or in eternity, God will reveal more to you about you.

You matter. Your obedience matters. Your “Yes” to God matters. You doing what God has asked you to do, whether big or small, it all matters. Just do your part and let God take care of putting it all together and making it all make sense. It will be hard at times, but you only fail if you quit (words from my awesome pastors).

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.