Abraham’s Lessons at His Turning Points

(Author’s note: This is the second of a two-part piece. You can find the first here. Its original context was as a Bible class but it seemed appropriate for this space as well.)

The modern dilemma is “Do you trust your GPS?”

On a trip to Colorado, ours took us down a desolate road as the gas gauge sped toward “E.”The simpler way was to stay on the main road, longer but more secure.

That must have been Abraham’s dilemma. He stood at various turning points and his choices changed his life.

To Go

Genesis 12 paints a picture of God telling Abraham to:

“Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1, ESV)

He was to leave Haran, a land bustling with agricultural promise to go….somewhere.

Imagine him explaining it to Sarah.

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know.”

“You mean, we pick up, leave the only life we have known to go to…somewhere.”

Yet, that was the first turning point. None of the promises of God would come to fruition without that first step. A land, a people, a blessing would not belong to Abraham had he chosen comfort.

One of our turning points is do we believe God and do what we don’t understand? Or do we do what is comfortable.

That is the choice faced by those who know the Bible. Their religious traditions suit them. They fit in with their family who support them. And now, I am going against the grain?

Taking the steps to become a Christian is frightening. It is leaving home to go to where God will show them

But Abraham would face others.

To Trust

Abraham left Haran and went to Palestine, where he was an alien in the land. He owned no property and lived in a tent that he folded to move from place to place. He had no stakes in the ground. Nothing was solid or permanent.

Then, in Genesis 15, God pointed him to the celestial dome above him. Millions of stars pierced the darkness. His offspring would compete with the numbers of the stars.

Yet, that’s not very believable for a man, aging by the moment, with a wife who is doing the same. The childbearing age had passed. And God had rejected all Plan Bs. How would God do the impossible?

Do you keep going when life hits brick walls? God says, “Trust me.”

All face the same barriers, from health to life changes to family issues. Do you trust God enough to keep going?

To Give

Abraham’s rearview mirror shows moments of trust and moments of distrust. But he is growing.

Then comes Genesis 22. God asks Abraham for the impossible.

“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2, ESV)

God asks  Abraham to give up the most precious part of his life, a son born in his old age. It would undo the promises and tear out his heart.

Do you do it? Do you make excuses? Procrastinate? Refuse?

But Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled a donkey, woke Isaac, and made the trek to Moriah. Can you imagine that trip? How Abraham must have struggled with every step?

And when Isaac started questioning him, what do you say? Does he mean it when he says, “The Lord will provide”?

Yet, he came to that moment, tied up his son, and raised his knife. On its downward arc, a hand grabbed it.

Abraham was willing to give it all. Nothing in life stopped his faith.

That’s hard except Abraham looked at the footprints in his past, how God had led him, loved him, forgiven him. If God can do all that, God will find a way.

I have to remind myself of that when I grow anxious. If God has provided for seven decades, why not now? And you relax your grasp on life.

How to Face Your Turning Points

Clarify your values.

We make choices out of what we believe and won’t. Abraham believed God so when turning points came, he knew the direction. Go in the way God was leading.

Alexander Hamilton reminds us, “Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything”

Deepen Your Experience with God

Take the time to see God’s work in your life. He has been faithful but you may not have recognized it.

Journal about it. Talk to someone close about them. Make sure you have your experience down.

I suspect Abraham was ready to sacrifice his son because of God’s constant faithfulness.

Keep in Mind the Long Game

Don’t be shortsighted. Take some time to look beyond your own life.

What we do, whether we like it or not, affects our children, their children, and their children, etc. It affects our neighbors and our friends.

I’ve known great people who enlarged the kingdom and strengthened people, including me. But they did not live to see the product of their influence.

Remember the Greek proverb. “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”

The poet laureate of the United States Robert Frost wrote of the Road Not Taken. Be the one whose turning point leads him to heaven.