Trusting God’s trajectory and timing

by Jeremy Lie

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‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you’ (Acts 7:3).

Read Acts 7:2–8

Stephen reminds his listeners that the story of God’s people began with a simple call to be answered. ‘The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham,’ Stephen says. This was before Abraham had a home, before he had a child, before any one of God’s promises seemed certain. God met Abraham where he was and called him forward into the unknown.

I often understand this dynamic as God loves us as we are, but God does not leave us as we are. God often calls us before we feel prepared or ready, but we begin to understand that God is not calling us for our ability, but our availability. God does not call those who feel equipped – God equips those who feel called.

Abraham is told to leave his country and his people, yet he receives no immediate reward – not even ‘a foot’s length’ of land. God’s promise comes long before its fulfilment. Abraham lives as a pilgrim, trusting a future he will not fully see. Faith, here, is not certainty; it is obedience in the presence of uncertainty.

Stephen also emphasises God’s timing. The promise includes suffering, waiting and generations yet to come. God’s covenant unfolds slowly, often uncomfortably, but always purposefully. Abraham receives the covenant of circumcision as a sign – a tangible thing to mark an invisible promise. I wonder what tangible reminders of God’s faithfulness you have in your life that you can lean on in times of waiting and uncertainty. What memories can remind you of who God has been in the past and who God will be again?

For us, Acts 7:2–8 invites reflection on where God may be calling us to trust without sight. We often want clarity before obedience, but God more often combines his promise with his presence instead. Like Abraham, we may find ourselves living between promise and fulfilment, holding onto God’s word while our circumstances seemingly lag behind. Our role is not to control the outcome, but to keep moving forward in faith, trusting that God is already at work ahead of us. Before looking forward, we are encouraged to look back and remember what kind of God we follow.

Lord, help us to trust your trajectory and your timing for our lives. Help us remember who you have been before and to be assured that you are the same God, yesterday, today and forever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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