Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”
To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’”
“So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’”

‭‭–Parallel Verses
Deuteronomy‬ ‭31‬:‭1‬-‭6‬
Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ The Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross over ahead of you, as the Lord said. And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. The Lord will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

I love adventure movies and one of my favorite scenes in the latest Indiana Jones movie is when Indie comes to a cliff and there is nowhere to go. He is reading a map, and the instructions indicate to him he needs to step out in faith. He takes a step into seemingly thin air, with a 1,000+ foot drop inevitable. But suddenly there appears a staircase he could not see from his earlier vantage point. He and his party are saved.

In another much older story, in Les Miserables, Jean val Jean, now known by another name, has done much good after being a convict and stealing in his starvation. While initially he was angry at his severe and mostly unjust punishment, he now had become an honest and kind man. He had also become very wealthy and popular. He was the mayor of a prosperous city.

But he found out that someone else was being tried as Jean val Jean and was going to have to pay the price for his crimes, for he had been a fugitive and no one knew it. So it seemed that he had a choice to make, stand for truth, rescue this man, and condemn himself to a convict’s life, or let this man suffer for his past crimes.

Stephen, here is at a similar precipice in life. He could have chosen to either attack these accusers and prove them wrong, lashing out at their false witness. Or he could have denounced his faith in Jesus and saved his own skin. Instead, he chose to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He chose to step out into thin air without knowing where God’s Spirit would lead him, to obey God.

Abraham did the same thing; he left his country and the people he knew and trusted God’s promise to him. And God makes this promise to us that he made to the people of Israel when they were to enter the Promised Land without Moses, the leader they knew.

We see in the cross reference, God says he will cross over ahead of them and destroy the nations that will fight against them. He tells them that he will deliver them if they are obedient. And he tells them to be STRONG and COURAGEOUS!

What worries and concerns plague my mind and heart today? Will I allow them to control my actions and thoughts? Or will I trust God’s promises, that they are good? Will I step out in faith into the unknown of His perfect will and plan for my life?

Lord, you are so good to me. I need you to infuse me with more faith to trust you more fully. Fill me up and make me strong so I will stand faithful to your call and obey your commands in the toughest of times. I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future — my God!