“Go!” I’ll Show You Later Where

#3 2024 Top Ten Editors Note: Now through January 5 I am posting the Top Ten posts of 2024.

“Go!” It was a simple command—a strong prompting I felt from the Holy Spirit to talk to my boss about an opportunity for a career change. I dreaded the conversation. I was comfortable in my current job, and I had no idea how my boss would respond to my desire to leave his department for a yet to be determined position elsewhere.

Yet there was a sense of urgency that I immediately respond to this simple instruction to go. A minute later I was sitting in my supervisor’s office discussing a potential career change. There was a lot of uncertainty about my future after that talk. However, years later, it led to a dramatic change in my career path and opportunities I never imagined at that time.

This is what I think about when I read Genesis 12:1 where the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” God tells Abraham to leave behind everything familiar to him and go to a yet undesignated land. What’s the purpose? God told Abram:

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:2-3, NASB).”

God does not tell Abram how he will do this, but he must wonder how since his wife Sarai was not able to conceive (Genesis 11:30). Without knowing the how, Abram “went as the Lord told him” (verse 4).” He didn’t know it at the time, but his obedience opened up the remaining books of the Bible to the arrival of Jesus: “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham…(Matthew 1:1, NIV).”

Abram responded to God’s call. “He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there (Genesis 12:5). “Go.” A simple word that prompted Abram to pack up his family and belongings and travel to the place God told him.

Sometimes when God calls us, we don’t have all the information in front of us. We might know a destination or even God’s ultimate plan, but lack knowledge of how he plans to accomplish it. We may never see the fruition of God’s ultimate plan in our lifetime, yet our act of obedience is one chapter in a story that can span generations. To respond to God’s call to, “Go,” is an act of faith.

© 2024, Chris G. Thelen

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going (Hebrews 11:8)

Answering the Call

This post is part of the “Answering the Call” series—an exploration of the moment of decision for so many people in the Bible. To read other posts in this series, click on the category “Answering the Call” At the end of this post.