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God Makes His Home With Us. We Follow as He Leads Us.

God Makes His Home With Us. We Follow as He Leads Us.

Last updated on: September 9, 2026 at 8:00 am by Rick Rice

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God Makes His Home With Us. We Follow as He Leads Us. 2026-09-08T21:22:22-04:00 Rick Rice

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Christians look forward to eternity in God’s kingdom. God’s desire from the beginning has been to dwell among His people. So shouldn’t we allow Him to lead us so we can find our way “home”?

At Home with God

Last week, I published two posts related to the topic of home. The first (What Does It Mean to Say, ‘Home Is Where the Heart Is?’) dealt with our focus on the priorities of God’s kingdom. Home is where the heart is; Jesus says that where our heart is, there our treasure will also be. If our home is in God’s kingdom, then our heart will also be there. And if our heart is there, our priorities will be aligned with the priorities of God’s kingdom. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you” (Matthew 6:33).

The second post (God Makes His Home Among His People) surveyed some of the Scriptural passages that talk about God’s desire to live with us. In the beginning, He walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, until sin breached the relationship and caused everything to change. In the Old Testament, God “lived” among His people in both the Tabernacle and the Temple. And as John’s Gospel points out, the Incarnation means that Jesus came and “tabernacled” among His people (see John 1:14). Revelation 21:3 tells us that when God’s kingdom comes in its fullness, God will dwell among His people. Our focus, then, should be twofold. First, how do we join God in His work to see “His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Second, what does it mean for us to follow Jesus? In other words, how do we discover and do what God wants?

Abraham: The Father of Faith

“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).

The New Testament recognizes Abraham as the “father of faith.” In Romans 4, Paul states that all who believe without being circumcised are children of Abraham through faith (Romans 4:9-16). Abraham’s faith began to be fully formed when he responded to God’s call to “go to a land which I will show you.” Clearly, Abraham had some understanding of who God was and what it meant to serve God prior to Genesis 12. Otherwise, how would he know who “the Lord” was who spoke to him? And how would he know that it was actually God who was speaking to him?

That’s an important fact to remember! After all, it’s not enough just to know who God is. It’s not enough to “believe in God.” As James writes, “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder” (James 2:19). James writes this in the context of demonstrating that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). And Abraham did not just “believe in God”; when God called, Abraham answered. “So Abram went away as the Lord had spoken to him” (Genesis 12:4).

God Promises a “Home” to Abraham

“And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7). Abraham left Haran – his “country,” his “father’s house.” He headed off across the desert, and when he arrived in Canaan, God said, “This is it.” So Abraham settled down, and they all lived happily ever after. Right?

Well, not so much. “Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was severe in the land” (Genesis 12:10). Wait, what? There was a famine, so Abraham left the land that God brought him to? What kind of faith is that?

Apparently, it was the kind of faith God was looking for, because God went with Abraham down to Egypt. He protected Abraham and Sarah from the famine – and from Abraham’s own fear and bad decisions! When Abraham asked Sarah to pass herself off as Abraham’s sister, God intervened before anything could happen to her. When Abraham pointed out to God that His promises were great, but that he had no heirs, so his servant would inherit everything God had given him, God reiterated His promise that Abraham would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5-6). And when Abraham and Sarah got impatient and tried to fulfill God’s promise in their own way – by Abraham having a son with Hagar, Sarah’s maid – God blessed that son while still insisting that He would give Abraham a son with Sarah (Genesis 17:15-16).

What Does It Mean for Us to Follow as God Leads Us?

So what does the story of Abraham – the father of faith – tell us about following God? First, Abraham reminds us that faith is more than just “believing.” Rather, faith is a belief that motivates us to act. Because we believe, we obey God. As Jesus put it to His disciples, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

Second, following God is not keyed to a “destination”; it is keyed to a relationship. Abraham did not believe that his faith journey was finished when he arrived in Canaan. He recognized that getting where God was leading was a lifelong quest. When God blessed him, he worshiped God; when God promised, Abraham believed.

God reiterated His promise of descendants, Abraham believed God (Genesis 15:6)
When God told Abraham to circumcise all the males of his household, Abraham obeyed (Genesis 17:23-27)
God told Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away; he did – even though it broke his heart (Genesis 21:9-14)
When God directed Abraham to take Isaac and sacrifice him, Abraham did everything God commanded until God intervened (Genesis 22:1-14)

Why Is It Important for Us to Follow When God Leads Us?

Finally, the story of Abraham tells us that following God does not mean that we will never make mistakes or bad decisions. After all, Abraham believed God, but he twice tried to pass Sarah off as his sister because he was afraid. Abraham didn’t wait for God to fulfill His promise of a son, but took matters into his own hands by having a son with Hagar. God uses imperfect people to fulfill His purposes – because there are no other kind!

But Abraham’s story also doesn’t mean that our mistakes, our failures, and our disobedience “don’t matter.” God still provided Abraham and Sarah with a son, but their decision to involve Hagar still impacts the world today. The conflict in the Middle East shows that the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac are still at odds with each other, thousands of years later. We can be sure that failure to follow God’s leading will have consequences – for us, and often for others.

My next post will examine the story of David, and God’s promise to “build a house” for him (1 Chronicles 17:10). How awesome would it be for God to build a house for you?

How have you experienced God’s leading in your life?

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