When we follow the voice of God, the steps of faith required will often bring us to the edge of impossible chasms. Why does God bring us to those places when he could have led us along easier paths? Simply because it is at the chasm of faith that ruthless trust is developed, and there is nothing more precious to God than our trust. Impossible odds force us to lean into a God whose power is unlimited, whose wisdom is unfathomable, and whose love is unstoppable. If you are at a faith chasm today, take a step of trust!
The Journey // Focus: Genesis 14:19-20
Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who has defeated your enemies for you.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.
Impossible odds! When we follow the voice of God, the steps of faith we are required to take will bring us to the edge of impossible chasms from time to time.
Why does God allow this? Is it because he is incompetent, uncaring or unaware? Not at all! For one thing, nothing is too hard for the Lord—ever. (Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah 32:17). There is no chasm too wide, no problem too hard, no odds too great. He is God, after all. And for another, God is committed to developing our trust. How else will trust develop than through us coming face to face with our own limitations, only to see time and again that we belong to a God whose power is unlimited, whose wisdom is unfathomable, and whose love is unstoppable. There is nothing more precious to God than our trust, and he is committed to developing it in us.
Abraham, as primitive a man as we might think him to be, was quite sophisticated in his theology—he recognized early on the trustworthiness of the God who was leading him into seemingly impossible challenges. So did the priest of Salem, Melchizedek, who came out to bless Abraham after his stunning victory. Both the victor and the priest recognized that the blessing of the incredible win against overwhelming odds—Abraham’s 318 men against 5 kings of city-states, led by one whose reign had dominated the regions for years—had come only because it was God Most High who had defeated these enemies. That indeed, was the blessings of the Most High. (Genesis 14:19-20).
Then Abraham chose to recognize the true reason for the success, thereby setting an eternal pattern, by given a tithe (one-tenth) of all he had gained in battle to the priest, who was a representative of God. (Genesis 14:18) So committed to honoring God and refusing to make himself famous (compare Genesis 11:4 with Genesis 12:1-2), Abraham even refused to take a payment from the defeated kings who had benefitted from Abraham’s victory of the dominant kings that had subjected them for years. Abraham let it be known then, and for all time, that there was no human reason for his success; in truth, his success came from God, and God alone.
The point being that when you follow God, your faith will take you to what is, from the human perspective, a place of impossible odds. But God has wisely and lovingly led you there to solidify in your faith that the Most High you follow is the God of the impossible.
God wants your trust. And there is only one way to get it! Keep that in mind the next time you are facing impossible odds.
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