by Pastor Rich Carlson         

As I read in Genesis 15 today, I found it is apparently okay to:

1. Ask God hard questions.

2. Listen to God even when, or especially when, it doesn't make complete sense.

3. Make mistakes in an honest effort to understand God.

4. Be wrong in my application of God's message to my life.

The example of Abraham tells me I may do all these things and still come out okay.

Abraham believed God, but he couldn't figure out how God was going to fulfill His promise of making of him a great nation when he and his wife were so old. I used to think Abraham sinned in trying to work things out according to his own will rather than waiting for God's will, and maybe he did; but I was reminded, as I read today, that Abraham's will was to do God's will. God had promised to make of him a great nation, but it appears that, because Abraham could not see by faith how it would be done, he took things into his own hands. Okay, he was wrong; but maybe it's better to make a mistake while trying to do God's will than to do nothing at all. I'm still wrestling with that idea.         

Abraham had a direct encounter with God, but even so he still had trouble allowing God to accomplish His will in His time. Maybe we need to be a little kinder with ourselves and others as we try and understand God's will for our lives. The example of Abraham suggests that, if we are honestly seeking to understand and follow God's will, mistakes along the way do not keep God from fulfilling His plans for us.           

God made promises to Abraham. Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous, despite his faults. Abraham made some mistakes, and they caused trouble, but at least he was trying to follow God's will rather than to reject it or ignore it. His story gives me courage.

Rich Carlson is campus chaplain at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. "God is Faithful" is adapted from the email devotionals he writes regularly for the Union College family. Rich enjoys filling his life with God, his family, and especially his five grandchildren.