This is both a comforting and troubling word. We are comforted in the sense of God as the cause of something. But how troubling to consider that even as God leads him away from the house of his father, Abraham is merely wandering. Shouldn't there be some point to all of this? Isn't there a more direct route, a quicker plan rather than to just wander? Surely if ever one had a map, God is that one, but in this story we look and say, "He forgot to get him the map I guess." It all seems so counter-intuitive to what the great "cause" of God would be. But our hope is this: since God caused Abraham to go out of his father's house, even in his wandering, there is purpose. We may not see it, believe it, but God does not cause something merely to happen without considering, knowing, and planning its outcome. And so too in this story. He delighted even in all that He was doing as the cause not only of what we determine made sense, but even in things like wandering, which seems to make no sense.
This is not only the story of Abraham, but too of a church planter, and indeed of all Christians. Press on, even in your God-caused wanderings.
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