What if your boss came to you and told you that you were being transferred to another job but didn’t tell you what that job was? To make matters worse, this new job was in a different city, in a different country, and your boss won’t tell you yet. Instead, he says to just go, and he will let you know when you are in the right place. If you’re anything like me, you wouldn’t likely have any interest in taking the new position. In fact, you’d polish up your resume and start looking for a new employer.

This is exactly the position in which Abram found himself in Genesis 12 when God told him, “Go from your country, your people, and your father’s household to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). Not only was Abram to leave his current job, but God wanted him to leave behind everything and everyone he knew, and head off into the unknown without a map. Our English language doesn’t do a good job of translating certain ideas. We lack what is called the “Imperative” case of verbs. The word “Go” in the Hebrew is in the imperative. It’s not a suggestion, it’s not a statement, it’s not a request. Go is a command. “Go! Now! Get up and move!”

Abram wasn’t the only one to receive such an order from God. In Luke 9, Jesus sent the apostles out “to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:2). This was their first “solo flight”, so of course they would have been nervous. And then Jesus told them not to take anything with them, not even money or food. To make matters worse, when Matthew tells the story, he adds, “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves” (Matthew 10:16). That had to be a truly terrifying command!

When God Says Go

In both Genesis and in the Gospels, God told people to go. We also receive marching orders from our Savior. When God says Go, it is a call to action. We are instructed to step out of our comfort zones and actively participate in God’s plan for our lives. When God says Go, it encourages us to overcome fear and doubt. When we give ourselves to God’s plan, our faith assures us that God will provide the strength, and the guidance needed. When God says Go, it is a call to new beginnings. Jesus says that we must be born anew. Through the command to go, He calls us to leave behind the past and embrace new possibilities. When God says Go, it is a call to live a life of purpose. We trust in God’s timing and direction and stand ready, so when He calls, we can serve others.

How Do We Respond When God Says Go?

Have you ever felt that little nudge? That whisper of God’s still small voice? Perhaps God is calling you to serve in the church, change careers, or join a charitable mission. Too often, Christians treat these commands as only suggestions or requests. We miss the imperative “Go!” We look for loopholes to escape the command, or we answer with a shrug and a “maybe”. This is dangerous! When we ignore God’s calling on our lives, we miss out on the growth, learning, and transformation He intends for us.

As Christians, we attend church, sing the hymns, read the Bible and pray, but we cling to limits. When God calls us to do something outside of our comfort zone, we balk and refuse. Allowing Jesus to be Lord, means allowing Him to lead us. Even when He leads us into discomfort.

Reasons We Don’t Go

There are many reasons (excuses) for not going when God tells us. None of them stand up very long, however, once we realize Who the command is coming from. Sometimes we are afraid of failure. We hear God’s call, but don’t think we’re capable. It seems God is asking us to do the impossible. Remember when Jesus sent out His apostles? Before they left, “Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases” (Luke 9:1). If it is God’s will for us to accomplish something, He will equip us for the task at hand. The apostles were given the miraculous powers of the Messiah; He will empower us for what He wants us to do. The equipping may not be visible before we set off, but it will become evident along the way.

Sometimes we hear God’s call, but it is something we absolutely don’t want to do. When I was fourteen, I first heard God’s call to ministry and promptly joined Jonah on his ship to Tarshish. Ministry was not something I had any interest in whatsoever. I understand! There is nothing wrong with not wanting to do what God has placed before us. After all, Jesus Himself, on the night He was arrested, prayed “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.” But He immediately followed this request with “yet, not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

Sometimes we want to serve, but rather than waiting for God’s call, we decide for ourselves how we’re going to go about it. When God’s plans don’t match ours, we set ourselves up as higher than God and ignoring His will for us. That is a miserable way to live!

Others who Go

In response to God’s command, “Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him” (Genesis 12:4). The disciples “set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news…” (Luke 9:6) Many people in the Bible responded affirmatively when God told them to go. All felt fear, yet all acted with obedience. Noah, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Jonah (eventually), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, Annias, Mary, Joseph, and of course we can’t forget Jesus, Himself.

More than once, my wife and I have left our homes to follow God’s urging. It was stressful, frightening, sometimes expensive, and always abundantly fulfilling. When I think back to what my life might have been like if I’d decided to ignore God’s call, I’m left with a sense of gratitude for all the blessings in my life that were possible only because I was obedient to Jesus.

The Rewards of Going

It is not only us that receive blessings through our obedience. When we look at Abram’s case, we see God was looking not only at Abram’s life, but well past it. God would bless Abram, but also promised that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). He called Abram to adopt this view and live the missionary life that God intended. God’s blessing for Abram was not just for him, or even for the Jewish nation descending from him. When the Messiah came from Abraham’s lineage, this promise was fulfilled for the entire world.

There are those who say we should not obey God for the sake of seeking our own rewards. They take Jesus’ teaching of denying ourselves to an unhealthy extreme. But Jesus Himself speaks of the rewards we should expect. He speaks in the sermon on the mount: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great” (Matthew 5:12). He ties our rewards to loving those who are difficult to love when He says, “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:45).

Perhaps God’s calling is not to one of fame and fortune. Perhaps (for most of us) we fulfill God’s calling in the grind of our daily lives. Paul wrote to the Colossians, saying, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance” (Colossians 3:23–24).

No matter where we find ourselves, we trust in God to walk alongside us. He continues to call, and guide, and empower us for the path He sets before us. We can live with a faith as strong as Paul who wrote: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).