Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Summer is travel time, and also relocation season. How far have you ever moved with your family and how much preparation did you make? My wife and I have moved more than 20 times including 3 countries and 8 US States!
But have any of us packed up everything and moved far, far away with NO exact plan of WHERE we’re going or how we’ll know when we have arrived? That’s the story of a man named Abraham and his trusting wife Sarah! Join me today, if you are courageous enough, as we travel with them.
Genesis 11:27-32 gives us the family tree of a man named Terah who had three sons, one of whom was initially named Abram. God later changed his name to Abraham. (Gen.17:1-7) Sadly death struck this family as Abram’s brother Haran died leaving both a widow named Milkah and an orphan son named Lot. (Gen. 11:27-29) Evidently Terah felt the need to move from their home in UR about 600 hundred miles to the northwest.
Terah invited his son Abram and wife Sarai to join him on this adventure. Terah, feeling responsible for his orphaned grandson, also invited Lot to come with them. Ur was a significant and even strategic city in those days, about 2200bc. The ruins of this place UR are today a tourist attraction near modern day Basra, Iraq. Pause. What does that tell you about the ethnicity of Terah’s family, including Abraham? Have you ever considered Abraham was what today would be known as an “Iraqi” man?
We should assume their journey followed the Euphrates river providing them and their animals water and food. After several weeks of travel, Terah and family settled in one of the oldest cities in the world which is still an active city on the same location today… Harran, located in southeastern Turkey. We don’t know why Terah chose this location nor how long he lived there, but Terah died in Haran leaving Abram to assume responsibility for his brother’s orphaned son Lot. (Genesis 11:31,32)
Genesis 12 is the remarkable story of God once more reaching to the human race, now for a third time, with a plan for how the human race could actually live as God originally designed mankind to live…in a relationship with Almighty God! (Genesis 1:26-31) You’ll recall God attempted this with Adam and Eve, but they instead doubted God and invited the influence of Satan into their perfect Garden of Eden which disrupted everything. God’s second attempt, after the great global flood, was with a blameless man named Noah and his family, but again within a very short time humanity, even though relatively few in number, turned away from God.
So now for a third time, God reached to humanity, specifically this man Abram and his barren wife Sarai, inviting them to live in a relationship with their Creator, God, built on trusting God to always be good, true, loving, reliable and faithful.
Now think about that. God’s offer is logical since we are totally dependent upon God to create us and form us in our mother’s wombs, then birth us and keep us alive everyday with breath in our lungs and our hearts beating and our brains thinking! We don’t create ourselves nor do we sustain our own life… God does that. So why would we choose any attempt to live independently from our Creator?
God’s reach to Abram and Sarai invited them to a bold, courageous, faith filled relationship that required action: Genesis 12:1-3 says: “The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.“ (Gen. 12:1-3)
Do you see Abram’s life purpose was changed in this encounter with God? Abram was invited to live entirely reliant upon God for everything in life, beginning with leaving his homeland to follow God to an undisclosed place. Abram’s life mission would be, for the rest of his life, showing to everyone who would meet him what it looks like for a normal human being to trust God for everything in life and to live in total obedience to anything God would tell him to do! In return, do you see God’s promises to Abram? Abram would be a blessing to everyone his life touched, for the rest of his life! Now let’s pause for a few seconds to consider: Is God calling you and me to live the very same way?
Genesis 12:4 reports: “So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he set out from Harran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran and set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.”
Now friends, it’s important to note God had NOT given Abram any SPECIFIC directions of where to go. We don’t know exactly how Abram discerned that God was leading him to the land of Canaan, but we do know Abram understood when God told him to STOP traveling and put down some roots.
“Abram traveled through the land as far as…Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were living in the land. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.‘ So, Abram built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.” (Gen. 12:6,7) Now let’s pause here to wrap our minds around a few really important things if we’re going to understand what’s happening here and how significant it is for God’s “Grand Narrative” story of God’s relationship with humanity.
First… did you notice how old Abram was when he stepped out in great faith to follow God’s lead to a new land? 75 years old!
Oh my, that encourages me! For all of you who feel you’re on the downhill side of life, that your best years are behind you and you’re simply coasting now… grab ahold of this and over the next few days let’s watch very closely what God does with this old man Abram!
Second… did you notice Abram took responsibility for both his childless wife, who was by the way age 65, and his orphaned nephew Lot, and all their estate which had evidently grown large.
But Abram did not let his assets restrain him from following God in this adventure!
Third… did you notice God APPEARED to Abram? We don’t know if this was a visual or only auditory encounter, but clearly this was more than simply a mental impression.
This was a life changing encounter with God and Abram was quickly learning how to discern what instructions God was giving him. Abram was developing an authentic, living, vibrant, dynamic relationship with the Creator of the Universe, Almighty God!
Fourth… did you notice Abram actively worshiped God in response to this encounter with God?
Abram’s worship was not simply a song or prayer. Abram built an altar of stones and we presume sacrificed one of his animals as an expression of adoration and commitment to God! Why; how often; and in what significant ways do you worship God?
By the way, Shechem, the first place Abram built an altar and worshiped, became a famous town in the story of the Bible located in modern day Israel. (Joshua 24) But Abram didn’t stay there, do you see in Genesis 12:8 he moved on arriving at another place called Bethel, which would also become very significant in God’s story. (Genesis 28 & 35) And there Abram built another altar and worshiped.
Let’s pause right here with Abram, Sarai and Lot. They’ve traveled more than 500 miles from Harran, and God has made His first Covenant promise regarding the land where they have built two altars to God in worship. God said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” (Gen. 12:7) For the first time in history God was deeding a section of our planet earth to ONE old man and his childless wife. God was inviting Abram and Sarai into a relationship similar to what Noah and God had; and Adam and Eve had with God. A relationship of love and trust and frequent communication.
That is God’s invitation to you and me today also. Do you have or desire that type of relationship with your Creator? We’re going to pursue understanding that in days to come for that is the core of God’s “Grand Narrative“!
Let’s worship with this song, as we try to understand the relationship God wants with you and me through Jesus Christ, and how it should change our lives… and I’ll meet you here again tomorrow as we continue this journey together.
Today’s Scripture: Genesis 11:27-12:9.
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
“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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