Risking It All

In our Wednesday night men's group at church, we have been going through the Wild at Heart series. In this week's study, the topic of taking risk came up. It made me think of men in the Bible who took great risks to follow God. In the video, he mentioned Abraham, but I also thought of Moses, David, and Peter.

In Genesis, God calls Abraham to leave his hometown and family and go.... nowhere in particular just yet, just go. Leave all that you know or have ever known and go. So Abraham sat down and made a list of the pros and cons of his decision. He looked for employment near and wide with his high speed internet connection. He posted his resume on LinkedIn and put out feelers on Facebook. Any responsible adult with a family would never move without making sure they had a secure job and a place to stay before moving. Obviously, this isn't what Abraham did since he only had dial-up internet. All joking aside, Abraham left as God instructed and today we count him a father of the faith because Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness (Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23).

Moses had been on the other side of the desert from Egypt, his home, for 40 years. God appeared to him in a burning bush that was not consumed and told Moses to go back to Egypt and confront the world's most powerful man, the Pharaoh. Even though Moses objected, he followed God. He confronted Pharaoh and God used him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and slavery to freedom.

David, being just a boy, confronted a man more than twice his size with just a sling and 5 stones. He had rejected the king's armor which was the best armor available. Rather then lean on man's best available options, David said, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied" (1Sa 17:45). He stood before Goliath, who was armed to the teeth, with just a sling and a stone and the hand of God.

When the disciples left the shore, the weather was calm. During their trip across the sea, it became rough and, being in fear, they saw Jesus walking on the water. Peter, the Bible's resident redneck (voted most likely to die saying, "Hey y'all watch this"), cried out and said, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water" (Matthew 14:28). Little did Peter know it was hard water, and could be walked on easily.

Each of these men took a chance. Doing great things, making memorable moments, and changing the course of history isn't done by doing the doable. God doesn't call us to do great things either. He calls us to follow Him. Henry Blackaby called these times a crisis of belief. Those times when God reveals what He is about to do through you that requires faith AND action. Following God requires both. In each of these cases, these men took great risks of personal harm or family and financial disaster. Following God will require risk in what we call a normal life, yet the Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God. I am unsure how to end this post. It seems the logical conclusion is to say that following God is the greatest risk, but is it? All these men took what we would say was a great risk, but all of these men also received what God promised. Maybe the real lesson is that what we see as risking it all, is no risk at all if we follow the leadership of God.