THE SEEMINGLY RANDOM NATURE OF OUR LIVES

A times, and in seeming contradiction to God's sovereignty, his orderly nature and set purposes, this life seems extremely random. It is full of movement and change, and different phases of activity and places of settlement - things which can cause great perplexity. It sometimes seems as though we are just living and going about our business, and that somehow God has forgotten His Word or His promises to us, but, as we see in the life of Abraham, this is far from the case.

From Genesis Chapter 11, Abraham is called to go to Canaan, but from that time onwards, he moves more than 8 times (even in the short space between Chp11 and Chp13!), even moving much while in Canaan (the land of Promise). He goes back and forth, and even back to Bethel where he once pitched his tent. He spends a little time living in an idolatrous Haran, then amongst Canaanites (a heathen people, even in the land of Promise!), without a fixed temple to worship in (instead living in the open air, pitching tents and building altars in most places he resides in), and in between Bethel (in between times of great revelation or very little of it). He experiences the straits of famine (even after having moved to the Promised Land) and the necessity of movement (having to go to Egypt because of famine), dangers from men that would destroy his family life (the Egyptian King), and separation from a family member and friend (Lot). This all revolved around a time when any kind of ministry seemed to be completely absent from his life, and when many of God's people would've probably judged him for the way in which he worshipped the Lord (yet his life is used by the Lord to teach and encourage us today!). All this seems extremely random, but God was sovereign over all Abraham's movements, settling, journeying, living and worship. The Word reveals that Abraham came out with many different things as a result of all this movement and seeming randomness, including a wife, family, riches, and friends. Even when alone, the Lord appeared and spoke to Abraham, giving him a promise to look forward to, and even a covenant.

Abraham did not have all his ducks lined up throughout his life. In fact, a natural observer of his life would've been hard pressed to find any ducks at all. Yes, Abraham had a call on his life, listened to the voice of the Lord, worshipped with wisdom and from the heart (even while in the midst of, and surrounded by heathen Canaanites. This was a worship without walls, structure and the leadership of men, and yet he did it in Spirit and Truth, and we know that, due to His appearances and speaking to Abraham, God was well pleased with this worship), and served the Lord, and yet for all this, his life had all the natural appearances of randomness, instability and even seeming useless and pointlessness. Many would've thought that Abraham - due to his many and seemingly erratic movements and odd choices (think: giving Lot the choice of land/ and telling Pharaoh his wife was his sister) - was befuddled and spiritually deceived (no doubt judgments and disapproval would've abounded) but quite the opposite was true; Abraham was simply living his life according to the Word of God (the Lord's word to him), and according to what was natural in light of that. Abraham worshipped, lived, worked, did what was necessary for his family (went to Egypt because of a famine etc.), and what the gift of God's good common sense and reasonableness made obvious and clear to him. God never rebuked him for this or ever told him that he hadn't lived or worshipped well, but only encouraged Abraham and reminded him of His presence with him.

Abraham didn't try and make sense of everything, because much of WHERE and WHAT he lived probably wouldn't have made much of any kind of sense in the natural. Even when he made it to Canaan (the land of Promise) according to the call of the Lord, things didn't just line up in a neat and straight line, in fact, things seemed more random than ever (even in the partial fulfilment of the promise). Despite this, he just kept living and worshipping, and God reminded him every now and then that He was completely sovereign over his whole life, and that his promises and goodness towards him were assured and unchanging. Abraham didn't complain or start to lose faith, he just continued living and worshipping, and trusted that God would fulfil for his life exactly what His Word and His promises had made clear. The big directions came when needed, as did the big blessings of promise, fuller relationship (covenant), revelation (Genesis 18) and family. However, all these things did not fit into a pattern that made human sense or required Abraham to feel like he had a handle on everything. Abraham allowed God to paint and make his life what it would be, and was thankful for it all, and rested with it all. That doesn't mean it was easy and without trial or testing, but it does mean that, in everything, Abraham relinquished the need to understand all of life and its goings on (never complaining, becoming frustrated or disbelieving the Lord), and in its place, simply believed and worshipped the Lord, and he was given faith for all things to do with life and Godliness because of it:

Romans 4v

20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,

So, in light of Abraham's example, let us allow God to make our life APPEAR as random and unstable as He sees fit. Let us also allow trouble and hardship, testing, movement, settlement, displacement, perplexity in our journeying, scarcity, dangers or vulnerability from circumstances and other men, fluidity in the place and circumstance of our worship and service (and whether with many men, with few or by ourselves), and even randomness and hardships in the land of promise (i.e Canaan/ or PARTIAL fulfilment of promise), for our Lord is sovereign over it all, and all things work together for good. All things of circumstance (and even our weakness, failings and perplexity) and the fluidity of our journey are not only orchestrated, used and allowed by God, but also triumphed by Him and His grace, person and promises. God will keep all His Word and all His promises to us and will fulfil our purpose upon this Earth, with trial, blessing, and through everything that changes or appears random.