Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. Hebrews 11:10
If there is one thing that we learned in March of 2020, it is that control is an illusion. You see, we may think that we are in control of our schedules, finances, and even our health, but the truth is we are not in control. Scripture teaches us that the only One who has control is God. God is orchestrating every step we take. Faith understands this truth, and calls followers of Christ to surrender to the One who has ultimate power and authority.
Hebrews 11 makes it clear that Abraham understood that he was not in control of his life. “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home, and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. When he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents.” (verse 8-9a). How do we know Abraham knew that he was not in control? He can be seen throughout Scripture surrendering to God. He did this when God told Him to leave his home for another unspecified land. His obedience was a profound act of letting go of control. He gave up the life he knew and everything that was familiar, acknowledging that God was the One in control. He lived in a tent for the rest of his life, awaiting the permanence of heaven.
What gave Abraham such firm confidence in God’s control? He kept His sight on eternity. In fact, we learn in Hebrews 11 that “Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God” (verse 9). He lived for eternity. Because of this, he did not hold tightly to the things on earth and surrendered control to God.
Abraham's willingness to release control of the things on earth is an example for us today. You see, his understanding was true, this world is not our home. God is the one who is in control, and as a result, we can let go of control. What do you need to let go of and surrender control of today?
Moving Toward Action
Is there something you are tightly holding on to? What are you struggling to surrender to God? Take some time to pray. Acknowledge to God that you know He is the one in control and you can trust Him with the thing you are tightly clinging to. Then give that thing to God. Surrender it to Him. Ask Him for the courage to hold loosely to the things of this world.
Read Hebrews 11:8-16 (NLT)
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
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