As Abraham Did

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

AS ABRAHAM DID

Heb 11:8-10

8 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. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

NIV

Are we not headed for a place we will receive as our inheritance and in all actuality really do not know where we are going? Sure we call it heaven, but is it not really the new city of Jerusalem whose architect and builder is God? We are not sure what it looks like exactly, although we have a description of it as outlined by John in the revelation God showed him. We certainly do not know where it is at this time, although we know it comes down from heaven, for we are not surely exactly where heaven is either. There is no telescope powerful enough to see beyond the limits of our universe to even get a glimpse of heaven, somewhere beyond. Or is it possible that God is keeping it invisible somewhere within the limits of this universe He created? Either way, we must be as Abraham and walk by faith, obeying the voice of God, going to a place we do not know where. And even as this speaks to the hereafter, it also speaks to the here and now. Should we not be willing to uproot and leave everything we know and are comfortable with to travel to a place which God directs us, even though we have never been there before, have no idea what we will do when we get there, and what will happen to us once we arrive there? Even as we are where we are, should we not live as strangers in a foreign country, living in temporary housing, not making this our real home, not setting up roots, and thinking of what we have as our permanent place of residence? Are we truly looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God? Unless we are blessed enough as Enoch was, the only way we can travel to this city is through the death of our body. This truly is an unknown journey for no one who has made that journey has come back to tell us of it. Oh sure, there have been a few who have written accounts and are selling their story, but is that it, they are selling their story. Has not the story already been told, but God? All we really need is to live by faith, as Abraham did.