Thursday,
January 2, 2020
The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him. Genesis 12:1-7
Abram got that word from God to pack it
all up, leave his familiar surroundings, and his father’s
family, and go…where?
Where was the arrival point? Lord,
you mean, just wander? In 1980
we got the same kind of message in our household. Well I was the one who got that message;
Elizabeth got it secondhand from me. To
paraphrase my bride’s way of retelling the story:
There I was lying in bed with a four-day
old baby, and he comes in and tells me he thinks we really ought to sell the
house now and go to seminary. What? Where is that? …and he says, I don’t know; I could’ve hit him with a pot!
That seems to be the way it is with God,
you get a prodding to leave, but arriving
points are scarcely in the up-front part of the picture;
you find out much later how the arriving makes sense.
Another thing I’ve learned along the way
is that you’re always leaving in one way or another; that’s
the way it is with pilgrims. Abram left
and followed God. He died in a foreign
place, never possessing the land God promised to his descendants. Moses left and never got to cross Jordan
either. John and Peter left their
fishing boats to follow Jesus; one arrived at a life sentence of exile on
Patmos to live out his days working in a coal mine, while the other arrived at
a cross, upside-down. Some arrivals
aren’t as romantic or magical as we dreamed.
If you check out the Hall of
Faith Fame in Hebrews 11 Abram is there, obeying, following,
leaving, always a foreigner, moving towards home.
It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. Hebrews 11:8-9
For You Today
When you’re bound for the Kingdom it’s always a good thing to keep Abram
in mind. Take some time today to
remember the promise of your inheritance.
And, just like Abraham, build an altar of worship in your heart; just
don’t forget to keep moving. You’re not
home yet!
