Pages

RSS Feed

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Godly Goals Are Attached to God’s Promises

In review of Genesis 24:7 it says, “For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son”

Bottom Line:
God will often give you a goal that is attached to His promises.

What this means to me:
When God gives me a goal, it will likely be attached to one of his promises. If I’m immediately obedient, he will work out the details ahead of time.

Today’s passage comes from the first part of Genesis chapter 24, where Abraham makes a request of his servant to help find his son Isaac a wife. Abraham gives his servant specific instructions and that God will work out the details.

I think many people start the calendar year off with a goal. They resolve to lose weight, to spend more time with their kids, to read more, to achieve something specific at work, or some other noble (or not so noble) goal.

But not every goal is a godly goal. What I’m learning is that a Godly goal is one that is attached to God’s promises in his Word. His promises will give me the courage and faith to move forward when it’s much more natural for me to be scared or worried.

In Genesis 24, Abraham gave his servant, Eliazar, a very tough goal: find a wife for his son, Isaac. Naturally Eliazar let fear get the best of him. He asked, “What do I do if I find a wife for Isaac, but she won’t come with me?”

Abraham reminded Eliazar of God’s promise as illustrated in today’s verse: “For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son” (Genesis 24:7 NLT).

After Abraham reminded Eliazar of the Lord’s promise, his fear vanished. The same thing happens with us. It’s scary for me to put everything I have into a big goal. I natuarlly do ont want to fail.

God’s Word urges me to not to look at my own strength to reach a goal. In fact, if I could accomplish the goal in my own strength, I’m not pursuing godly goals in the first place.

So what does God’s Word say about my goals so far? One thing is that I’ll never know unless I get to know what the Bible teaches. This is much like having an insurance policy, but not knowing what the policy covers. I would end up worrying about many things needlessly.

In the Bible God promises to help us as we get healthy, become better parents, eliminate our debt, and more. But unless we know those promises and claim those promises, we’ll worry needlessly about achieving them.

What I’m learning is that I don’t have to have big faith to accomplish huge goals. I just need a little faith, in a big God! My God is the God of the universe. He can do anything.

The question is, am I ready to trust God for the unbelievable?

0 comments: