Sometimes I have the idea that my life should look similar to the lives of people around me. When my life looks different, the automatic conclusion I come to is either, “I must be doing something wrong,” or “They must be doing something wrong.”

But often, God calls us to something we didn’t expect so that we can prove our faithfulness and obedience to him.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve encountered some thought-provoking verses in Hebrews 11. This chapter is a fascinating account of people who evidenced unwavering faith in the middle of uncertain futures. I find myself encouraged, convicted, and flabbergasted all in one reading. I cannot imagine doing what they did.

Packing up my home and moving, but not knowing the destination?
Giving birth at 100 years of age?
Taking my son to an altar—getting ready to kill him as a sacrifice?

As I read this passage two weeks ago, I wrote down the actions each person took:

Abel offered.
Enoch was taken.
Noah built.
Abraham moved.
Sarah conceived.
Abraham offered.
Isaac blessed.
Jacob blessed.
Joseph directed.
Moses’s parents hid him.
Moses refused.
Moses left.
Moses kept.
Israel crossed.
Jericho fell.
Rahab hid.
Many conquered kingdoms,
enforced justice,
obtained promises,
stopped lions,
quenched fire,
escaped swords,
became strong,
experienced torture,
mocking,
flogging,
chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned,
sawn in two,
killed with the sword,
were destitute,
afflicted,
mistreated,
wandered about in deserts, mountains, and caves.

I mean, the first half of the list looks a lot more desirable than the second half, doesn’t it? Kind of like, “Hey, I’m willing to offer myself for crossing the Red Sea or being taken up to heaven like Enoch, but I’ll go ahead and pass on the whole torture thing.”

But that’s not how faith works, is it?

Faith in God expresses itself as obedience. Living a life of faith is not a buffet line where I choose the things I like and leave the options I despise. True faith is expressed in the prayer, “Not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

All the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 had faith in the same God, but he called them to walk different paths.
He didn’t call each of them to build an ark.
He didn’t command them all to conceive a child when they were 100 years old.
And he didn’t ask everyone to hide a couple of spies.

But there were two things God called them all to do:

• He called them to deny themselves.
• He called them to pursue lives of faith—believing in God rather than in what they could see.

God received glory from each of their lives, but their paths looked wildly different.

Here’s what I’m learning…

• God is the one who chooses my path. I want him to choose it. I want to be quick to follow.
• God has a unique plan for my life. It’s a unique plan because he has made me a unique person.
• I cannot know God’s will by looking at the lives of those around me. I can learn from them and be encouraged by their faith. But I can’t know what God wants me to do by comparing my life to theirs.

May God give us the grace to follow where he leads.

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