Oh the Places You'll Go!

In his wonderful little book, Oh the Places You’ll Go, Dr. Seuss writes:

You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

Life is a long lesson in personal leadership. Many have said it, and life affirms it: the first person you must learn to lead is yourself. This is difficult. It is not a position most of us are eager to take on, and besides, there are so many others who want the job! Furthermore, if I make my own choices and decisions, everything that happens will be my responsibility—all my fault! In today’s world that is a novel concept.

One of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament had many failures in personal leadership. Hebrews 11:8 indicates that Abraham, by faith, obeyed when he was called. However, a deeper study of his story discloses that he did not come to this obedience easily or quickly. The fact that Abraham struggled with his life direction, faced difficult family issues, and more than once made poor personal decisions makes him a lot more like you and me than we would first think. This should be an inspiration to us. After all, he was called the “man of faith,” and the “friend of God.” Nevertheless he stumbled, fell, and sometimes failed miserably, yet, he persevered with God. The lesson here is that we, too, can learn from our mistakes and failures, become “experts” in personal leadership (finally), and gain the ultimate declaration that “when we were called, by faith, we obeyed.”

Stephen, in his last and greatest sermon, reveals that God spoke to Abraham in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran. When Abraham left Mesopotamia (Ur of the Chaldeans, Genesis 11:31), his father, Terah, and Lot, his nephew, went with him. This appears to be in contradiction to God’s command, which was to leave your country, relatives, and father’s house (Genesis 12:1; Acts 7:3). Rather than going on to Canaan—their original destination according to Genesis 11:31—the little group settled in Haran for a number of years (See Hesitating in Haran).

There were some notable happenings in Haran. Terah died there (Genesis 11:32), and apparently, one portion of Terah’s legacy for Abraham was Lot. He assumed the responsibility and his love for his wayward family member was unfailing. Was Lot one of the “relatives” Abraham was supposed to leave behind when he was first called? No matter now, decisions had been made. He would live with the consequences AND follow this God who kept calling.

Abraham also amassed significant wealth in Haran. Genesis 12:5 indicates that they had “accumulated possessions” and “acquired persons” in Haran. The wealth and possessions led to Lot and Abraham’s separation (Genesis 13:6). Later, Abraham would muster 318 men from his own household (Genesis 14:14) to rescue his hapless nephew. His wealth was a bane and a blessing.

All along his journey Abraham was called upon to make decisions. “Steering” himself and “deciding where to go” did not come easily. More mistakes and recoveries were made. Life is a long lesson in personal leadership.

God called Abraham in Ur—right where he was. God was not waiting for Terah to die, for Abraham to get to Haran, or to accumulate wealth. God is calling you and me right where we are, too. He is not waiting for us to get through college, find the right job, get the kids raised, retire, or anything else.

What is he calling us to? In broad categories, He calls us to salvation, the personal realization of our sinful state and our need for a Savior. Secondly, He calls us to surrender, the submission of every aspect of our lives to His divine will. Finally, He calls us to service, the use of all the gifts He has given us to serve Him and the people He brings into our lives.

It seems rather simple. However, life is not, and very few of us are born as “experts” in personal leadership. We are susceptible to missteps, wrong turns, and failure. The key, nonetheless, is to do what was also said of Abraham in Hebrews 11:8—keep going out even though we don’t know where we’re going. Like Abraham, we, too, may accumulate possessions, persons, responsibilities, and other miscellaneous baggage along the way that, perhaps, were not part of God’s perfect plan in the beginning. So what should we do with all this stuff when God calls again to salvation, surrender, and service? Well, we should continue to be like Abraham—shoulder the consequences of our decisions and go anyway.

To “go anyway” is the only way to prove to ourselves we have learned something from life’s lessons in personal leadership. In truth, it is the only way we can respond to God’s calls to salvation, surrender, and service. And even though, like Abraham, you don’t know where you are going, when you go with God you can be assured of the wonder of which Dr. Seuss wrote: Oh the Places You’ll Go!