Through
Paths Unknown
“By faith
Abraham…obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” —Hebrews
11:8
When
Abraham was seventy–five years of age, God called him from his home in Ur of
the Chaldees to move to Haran, to Shechem, to Bethel to Egypt, to
the Negev, to Hebron… Rootless, homeless, “going…and
not knowing.” That was the story of Abraham’s life.
Age brings change, uncertainty and adjustment. It means transition
from a familiar past to an uncertain future. It is movement from a much loved
family home, to a smaller place, to a daughter’s home, to a retirement village,
to a nursing home—the “final resort,” as one writer put it. So we, like
Abraham, pass through paths unknown, making our way from one location to
another, always traveling: “going…and not knowing.”
But we can be at home in any dwelling place, for our safekeeping lies
not in the place in which we live, but in God Himself. We dwell in the shelter
of the Most High; we rest in the shadow of His wings. In Him we take refuge;
the eternal God is our dwelling place.
Others may choose our
habitation, but God will be our companion and friend until traveling days are over
and we reach our heart's
true home. He will turn each dreary
dwelling place into a house of grace in which we can shed the light of God’s
loving kindness on other travelers—“light in His light to be” (Jesse Penn–Lewis)..
David H Roper
