Move Forward in Faith
The Days of Unleavened Bread are very reminiscent of the days after God began His direct involvement with Abram. “Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). Abram already had a relationship with God, much as we do after baptism. Passover then, reminds us of that relationship, which in turn, reminds us of God’s instruction to walk away from our former life just as He instructed Abram to do.
“So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran” (Genesis 12:4). Abram did not hesitate to do as God had instructed him. He took action – he walked away from the past toward a new place. That is what the Days of Unleavened Bread are all about. We are to leave the leaven of sin behind as we move forward increasingly in the image of Christ.
Abram, or Abraham as God later called him, moved forward in faith. His forward movement or obedience though, was not accomplished by worship of his own inner power. Rather, he believed God’s instructions and promises implicitly and moved forward accordingly. The Apostle James wrote, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God” (James 2:21–23). In such a case, God can empower us, like Abraham, to miraculously move forward. The key to forward movement then, through this holy season and beyond, is to truly believe God implicitly just as faithful Abraham did.
We might ask how Abraham could have taken such mighty steps in faith as is evidenced in him packing up all his family and possessions and moving without knowing where the destination was? How could he have been willing to give up his son of promise on God’s command? These monumental events seem bigger than life. Christ shed simple light on this, however, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10). If Abraham faithfully moved forward in big things, it is because he was first faithful in the little ones that he didn’t rationalize away. By wisdom, we know that little results are the seeds of the bigger results that grow out of them.
During the Days of Unleavened Bread, we often find some of the same leavening that has been there before – little things that we have been willing to rationalize away. In such a case, we need to ask ourself if we truly understand how mighty a scourge can grow out of faithlessly dealing with such “little” things.
The Apostle Paul views such things honestly and hopefully. “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul” (Hebrews 10:38–39).
Marshall Stiver
