Just Go: Embracing God's Call in the New Year
There's something powerful about standing at the threshold of a new year. We pause, we reflect, we wonder what lies ahead. But perhaps the most important question isn't "What will happen?" but rather "Will I obey when God says go?"
The Simple Command That Changes Everything
Throughout Scripture, we encounter a deceptively simple instruction: go. When God spoke to Abram in Genesis 12, He didn't provide a detailed itinerary, GPS coordinates, or a comprehensive five-year plan. He simply said, "Go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land that I will show you."
Go where? Just go.
This is where faith meets the pavement. We live in an age of meticulous planning, where our phones tell us not just how to get somewhere, but exactly how long it will take and which routes to avoid. We've become accustomed to having all the details before we take the first step. Yet God often works differently. He asks us to step forward in faith, trusting that He will reveal the path as we walk it.
The beautiful promise embedded in God's command to Abram wasn't just about going—it was about what would happen when he obeyed. "I will make you a great nation and I will bless you." Notice the timing: go is now, will is future. Obedience precedes the revelation of God's full plan.
And what did Abram do? Verse 4 tells us simply: "So Abram went." At 75 years old, he packed up and moved forward in faith. If you think you're too old to respond to God's call, remember that getting older doesn't exempt us from obedience—it actually makes our dependence on God's strength even more critical.
Walking by Faith, Not by Sight
The principle is clear throughout Scripture: we walk by faith and not by sight. Yet how often do we flip this equation, waiting to see before we're willing to believe? We tell God we'll go once He provides all the money, all the means, all the answers. But anyone who has walked with God long enough knows that if we wait for perfect clarity, we'll never move at all.
God is in the details of what our obedience will look like, and He structures things so that only He can get the glory. That's not frustrating—it's beautiful. It means the outcome doesn't depend on our adequacy but on His faithfulness.
As 1 Thessalonians 5:24 promises: "The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it."
What's Attached to Your "Go"?
Here's the challenging question: What's waiting on your obedience? What will be requires your response to this single word—go.
Sometimes the call isn't to another country. Sometimes it's to simple obedience right where you are:
Go make the phone call you've been putting off
Go send the email that needs to be sent
Go say the prayer you've been holding back
Go give what He told you to give
Go lay down the offense you've carried too long
Go extend the forgiveness that's been withheld
Go get connected to the family of God
God is in these details. He sees the small acts of obedience that seem insignificant to us but are monumental in His kingdom. There's a story of someone who reluctantly went to visit someone in the hospital, thinking they were going for one person, only to discover God had orchestrated the whole thing so someone else in the room could hear the gospel and come to Christ. God is so faithful that even when we show up with reluctance, if we're willing to be used, He'll accomplish His purposes.
The Power of Eternal Perspective
In Lamentations 3, we see a powerful progression. The writer begins in a place many of us know too well: "I've been deprived of peace. I forgot what prosperity is. My soul is downcast within me."
How easy it is to stay in that place, repeating our complaints, rehearsing our disappointments until they become the soundtrack of our lives. But the passage doesn't end there. Verse 21 marks a turning point: "Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope."
What follows is one of the most beautiful declarations in Scripture: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness."
This is the shift we need—moving from circumstance to character, from what's happening to who God is. The writer continues: "I called on your name, Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea... You came near when I called you, and you said, 'Do not fear.' You, Lord, took up my case. You redeemed my life."
Change what you're declaring. Instead of rehearsing everything that's wrong, declare what God has done.
In the Dry and Parched Places
Psalm 63:1 offers a stunning picture: "You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water."
Here's what's remarkable: the conditions for success in God's kingdom are different than in the natural world. In dry and parched land—the very place we'd naturally retreat from—God demonstrates His power most clearly. He makes ways in the wilderness. He flattens mountains. He creates paths where there is nothing.
Our weakness becomes the canvas for His strength.
The Great Commission: Therefore, Go
Jesus' final words to His disciples before ascending to heaven began with a declaration of His authority, followed immediately by a command: "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations."
This isn't a suggestion for the spiritually ambitious. It's the marching orders for every follower of Christ. And it comes with a promise that changes everything: "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Your going is not alone. Your obedience is not in your own strength. The One who has all authority goes with you.
A Fresh Start
As we stand at the beginning of a new year, we have the opportunity to reset, to realign ourselves with God's purposes, to press into His presence. As Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13-14, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
This is the posture for the year ahead: not trusting in our own understanding, but acknowledging Him in all our ways, allowing Him to direct our paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
So the question remains: What is God calling you to do? Where is He asking you to go?
The first step is always the hardest. But remember—He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Just go.
