A Greater Faith

Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you.
–Psalm 55:22

This week, we are looking at the difference between a Special K Christian and a Krispy Kreme Christian. And in the story of Abraham and Lot in Genesis 13, we see that the Special K believer possesses a greater faith.

When Abraham gave Lot the first choice of the land, I imagine Lot thought to himself, “Poor Uncle Abraham. He must be slipping in his old age.” But Abraham knew exactly what he was doing. You see, Abraham had learned the hard way what happens when you think you have to look out for yourself instead of allowing God to meet your needs.

In the previous chapter, God had brought Abraham and his family to Canaan. But there was a famine in the land. You might be in a similar situation–God has uprooted you and brought you to a new city, a new church, a new job, or a new family situation, and things are not the way you thought they were going to be. And you wonder, “Can the same God that brought me to this place be trusted to sustain me in this place?” Abraham looked around at his situation and said, “I cannot let my family starve. I have to do something.” So he moved his family to Egypt, where there was plenty of food. Now, Abraham had the best motivation for doing this. The problem was in all his calculations, he failed to put God in the equation. Genesis 12 does not show Abraham asking God for guidance or assistance before going to Egypt. Whenever you make a decision without consulting God, you are going to make a big mistake.

Abraham made a big mistake. His experience in Egypt ended in disaster and disgrace. He learned what happens when you try to watch out for yourself instead of trusting in God. And now he was faced with another difficult situation. I am sure he thought, “What if the piece of land I get dries up and I am not able to support my family?” But he concluded that God was responsible for taking care of him and keeping His promise of giving him many descendants.

Somebody has said that all worry in life comes from taking responsibility that God never intended us to have. For example, parents are responsible for bringing up their children in the instruction of the Lord. But parents are not responsible for the choices their children make. Yet what do parents do? We get all worried: “What if my child does this, or this, or this?” Whenever we make their choices our responsibility, we are taking on a responsibility God never intended us to have. And the result is we are weighed down with worry. But the Special K Christian has a greater faith–he believes that ultimately God will do what He has promised to do.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Becoming A Special K Christian In A Krispy Kreme World” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2011.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.