The Strength to Follow God's Will

The beginning of faith is listening to what God has to tell us.  Abraham one of my favorite characters in the Bible is such a great example of faith, known to us as “the father of faith.”  He was not the first to ever believe in the One God, Yahweh, but He was definitely one of the first and one of the very few who listened to God and acted on God’s will no matter what God asked.  We are called to do the same during our lives and especially so during Lent.

When we read the story of Abraham we realize that here is a man who is pretty well set up living with his family in a fruitful land.  The family is rich and well off, life is comfortable.  Yet, when God calls and tells Abraham to pick up his things and leave his father’s house he does just that, but he does so without getting any directions.  He has no idea where he is to go; he is simply told, “Leave your father’s house.”  I wonder if I would have been able to do that.

The season of Lent is that time to practice our faith, to make it stronger, to become holy.  Holy does not simply mean to be pious, but to listen to the will of God and then to do it.  This is not always easy.  Even though the Scriptures tell us a story of Abraham who packed his things and left without question may not be the full story.  I do not want to place words into the story or make Abraham someone he was not, but I think (this is my opinion) he probably wondered, “wow I wonder where I am going, I know this voice and recognize it as God, but this is all quite amazing, what about all the people I will be leading, they will be following me, what if something goes wrong, someone gets sick, we meet up with marauders.”  Abraham was a human being and even though he was and is the father of faith, I believe he still thought things out in his mind, but even so he packed his things and left, a leap of faith.

God asks us throughout our lives to follow His will.  Half the times we follow it right away, the other half we follow our own will.  Lent is that Season when we try to follow God’s will 100% of the time.  One may ask, “Where will I ever get the strength to do that?”  That strength comes from Jesus.  The Apostles, all except Judas, were saints and yet they too struggled with following God’s will, especially the night Jesus was arrested.  Knowing this Jesus gave them strength before hand and that strength came in the form of the Transfiguration.

This same strength is given to us to face any and all of life’s challenges.  For some that challenge may come in the form of changing jobs or careers and to do so is very difficult.  Like Abraham, our Lord may be guiding you in a different direction.  There is a sense of being uncomfortable in that; there is the whole thing of the unknown and the pressure of taking a risk.  For young people it comes in the form of choosing a school, especially in making a decision on college.  They feel great pressure since the pressure comes from all angles, their counselors, their parents, their friends, their teachers, and even from their very selves.  Those are just two examples of trying to follow God’s will and there are many others.

What do we learn from Abraham and the Apostles?  That when we are making tough decisions we understand God’s will for us and that while we are making that choice like Abraham to walk out that door even though we don’t have all the answers, we do so with faith.  It all comes down to trust and sometimes that is hard to do.  I will leave you with one thing to reflect on.  No matter how difficult it may seem to follow God’s will and if we lack the trust that it will all workout all we need to do is remind ourselves of the Cross.  If we have a God that loves us that much that He would be willing to spread His arms on the Cross for us does He not have the power and love to make things work out in our lives.  Abraham believed and trusted in God’s love, no matter what God asked, it’s what gave him the strength to take that first step out of his door when he left his father’s house.  I pray that we too realize and believe that God does the same for us.  He transfigures for us every Sunday, which will happen soon as we celebrate the Eucharist, Christ transfigured for us.  It’s all we need to take that first step out of the door.  Amen.

FJ