Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder what the attitudes are in your part of the world toward “old people”? As you know, in some societies the elderly are treasured, highly respected as wise people with much benefit to their family and society, and tenderly cared for until they die. In some parts of the world ancestor worship is very significant. Sadly, in some other parts of the world, once their ‘productive’ years are concluded the elderly are simply cast aside as no longer valuable.
My father is 94 years old now, clear in his thinking and amazingly strong physically. He is nearly blind now, but thanks to technology and so many wonderful things available via audio, my father spends several hours each day studying God’s Word, the Bible, with some of the best Bible teachers in the world! We, his family, are grateful to God that my father is still with us, sharing the wisdom he has gained over his long life. I remember several times as a boy, my father felt led to move our family from one location to another, as he followed what he understood to be God’s leading for our family. That included moving from America to a foreign country! Have you learned that my friends? How to discern God’s leading in your life and how it may affect your family? And have you developed the courage needed to step out in great faith, following God into the future He has for you?
Join me today in Genesis 11 in the Bible as we journey with a man who was experiencing this. Here’s the record: “Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai…and Sarai was barren, she was unable to bear children. Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, son of Haran, and Abram’s wife Sarai and together they set out from Ur to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran they settled there.” (Gen. 11:27-31)
Easily we can put ourselves into this story can’t we my friends? While we don’t know exactly WHY Mr. Terah felt led to leave the great city of UR, where his family had lived for generations, evidently Abram and Sarai felt an obligation, and perhaps an excited anticipation, to go with Abram’s dad Terah on this adventure. We don’t know Terah’s age exactly at this time, but I’m sure Abram saw the privilege laid before him. His father was growing older by the day. If he traveled with his dad, helping him in this move, Abram would eventually become responsible for his father Terah’s care, for the rest of his life, until his death. Now think about that a moment my friends. Are any of you in that situation?
As the eldest son in my family, watching my father age, I think I understand. It is both a great honor and a great responsibility, isn’t it? Can you imagine the conversations between Terah and his family, around the evening dinner fire, as Terah explained his desire to pack up everything and move to a far away place, in these, his older years. Of course he couldn’t go alone, so who would join him in this adventure? Evidently Terah’s son Nahor said “thanks but no thanks, dad, I’m staying here,” and he chose to remain at the family home, in familiar Ur.
Can you see young Lot sitting around that fire conversation? His father Haran had died some years before. I presume his uncle Abram and his grandfather Terah had taken him under their wing. But what now? Should he stay in their familiar town of Ur? Would uncle Nahor help him? Or should he join the adventure and the challenge of moving to a place no one in their family had ever seen? Look around the group my friends, what do you see on their faces? Does grandfather Terah hope his grandson will come with them, or does he see him as a burden? Does Abram feel some obligation for his nephew, the son of his deceased brother? What about Sarai? Evidently Terah’s wife, Abram’s mother, was dead since she is not mentioned. Would Sarai, as the only woman, feel some special responsibility for Lot? Evidently grandfather Terah invited Lot to join the caravan and he agreed.
As you can see by the map, Terah and his family would travel north along the Euphrates river, and at some point, if Canaan was their eventual destination, they’d bear left, heading west through the harsh, rugged, dry, uncharted land, toward Canaan. Traveling on foot, no faster than their animals and carts could go, it was important to stay near water as long as possible. Eventually they chose to stay along the Euphrates all the way to the city of Haran, a journey of more than 700 miles. How long would that have taken, perhaps moving at the pace of 10 or 15 miles a day? Finally the city of Haran was visible in the distance, I’m sure a welcome sight!
As sometimes happens when people arrive at a place they think is a temporary place of pause, days turn to weeks, turn to months. Friendships are made, the place begins to feel familiar. It had been a demanding trip and Terah was not getting any younger, so I can see the wisdom in settling down in Haran. Time passed. Abram cared for his ageing dad and his young nephew. The record says “Terah lived to the age of 205 years, and he died in Haran.” (Gen. 11:32) We can presume Abram served his ageing father well, and cared for all the appropriate burial details.
Was it only a matter of days before both Sarai and Lot were asking about the future? Was Haran to be their long term home? I think we find the answer in Genesis 12:1 “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Was this a conversation God and Abram had years before as Terah was asking the family to consider joining him in leaving Ur? Or did it happen along the journey to Haran? Or was it a fresh conversation? Had God met with Abram in the days immediately following his father’s death and burial, giving Abram a fresh calling to Abram to pack up and follow God? But where? God had said “go to the land I will show you.” Where was that? How would Abram know when he arrived there?
Have you ever done this my friends? I experienced it several times as a boy, as my father gathered us together as a family and we discussed another move to a new place. As an adult, my wife and I have now experienced this seven different times! Sometimes we were in a place for 6 or 8 years, sometimes only a short while. Each time we were absolutely confident the place where we sensed God led us to live, and the roles we had in each community, was by God’s assignment. Each time we could see how God had prepared us to be in that place, at that time, doing the things entrusted to us there. I can tell you, there is no more exciting way to live than following God’s leading!
Over these next weeks, as we walk through these chapters of Genesis we will experience it together and it will be exhilarating! For today, I urge you to have a conversation with God about where you are in life, and what God is doing now to refine you more and more into a man or woman who can discern God’s voice and follow Him courageously!
Here’s a simple yet powerful song to help you consider this amazing lifestyle of “Walking with Jesus”…
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 11:27-32.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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