I’m digging into the stories of many of the women of the Old Testament as I write my next book. One of the themes that keeps popping up is that of journeys.
For someone who likes to travel and who has moved countries, I love the fact that many of our biblical brothers and sisters rarely stayed in one place. Abraham and Sarah moved from Ur to Canaan, down to Egypt and back again. Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob all moved to and fro. The Israelites, of course, traveled around for 40 years. Jonah, Naomi and Ruth… the list goes on. They traveled because God told them to or to avoid difficult circumstances.
Jesus also traveled from one place to another and on those journeys, he changed people’s lives.
The same concept of journey is used figuratively in the Bible to talk about our way of life and our faith. Noah, Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully with God (Genesis 6:9; Genesis 48:15). The people of Israel were told to walk in obedience to God (Joshua 22:5). Proverbs instructs us how to walk, to conduct our lives well. And the New Testament tells us we are to walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Sometimes physical journeys and faith journeys intertwine. Abram and Sarai, were called by God to take a physical journey from Ur to Canaan, which took them on a faith journey with God. Paul, in the New Testament, was on a journey when God called out to him. My own physical journey from the UK to the USA was also a time of renewing my faith in God.
We shouldn’t underestimate the significance of a journey.
So often we ask God for physical safety when we take trips, so that we will arrive safely. What if we added to our prayers, that these journeys would be a time to strengthen our faith so we can walk faithfully with God?
Use this prayer for your next journey or the journey of someone else.
Photo by Jad Limcaco on Unsplash