Jessica Albritton, NextGen Minister LHBC
Genesis 12:1-9
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
I have moved several times in my life. Packing up boxes and loading up cars, renewing drivers licenses and updating addresses, I could do it in my sleep. But as easy as it may be to go through the steps of moving, the emotional turmoil that you go through is never that way. I believe the most difficult part of moving is what you leave behind. To go somewhere unknown, somewhere that you have no connections, leaving behind family and friends, jobs and routines, is extremely difficult.
Genesis 12 starts off with the Lord telling Abram to go, leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house. This is a pretty big deal. God is telling Abram to leave his community, his security and even his identity behind and go to a land that the Lord would show him.
Abram isn’t given a map or even an idea of where he may end up, he is just told to go.
Abram responds in faith by going as the Lord commanded without knowing where the path of obedience would have him end up. Faith is essential to the Christian life. Faith is trusting in a God that we know on a path that we do not. Abram didn’t have to know the destination in order to trust the God who was sending him.
In verses 2 and 3 God promises to make Abram into a great nation, to bless him, and to make his name great. Essentially God is saying, leave what you think is the best and let me show you how much better my plan can be. When we read about this in the Bible we can see the end. We know that Abram’s name was eventually changed to Abraham, we see that God made him the father of nations, but in chapter 12 verse 1 Abram couldn’t see what the finish line would look like, he only knew the direction in which God was calling him to run.
Abram could have used any number of excuses as to why he shouldn’t or couldn’t go but instead he stepped out in faith. So often we get caught up in the comparison game and don’t think God can use us. We think God would be better off using someone else that is smarter, stronger, bolder, more eloquent, more fill in the blank. If we would just trust God rather than try to work out who God can and should use we would find that God would use a whole lot more of us.
What is God calling you to do? Are you cowering away from His calling because of fears and doubts? Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to run the race set before us looking only to Jesus. Today I challenge you to lean into Jesus. We will never be smart enough, strong enough, bold enough, eloquent enough, fill in the blank enough, but you know who is enough? The God who calls us. And He just asks that we respond in obedience.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Heavenly Father, thank you for your all sufficient grace! Lord, I pray that as I run this race set before me I don’t give way to the doubts and fears that so easily entangle. Give me the strength to follow you even when I can’t see where you’re taking me. In Jesus name, amen!
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Mark 9:23
All things are possible for one who believes.