Genesis 12:1-4a
1Now 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. 2I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.
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Abram was 75 years old when he was called by God to go and leave his country and his father’s home. Now I picture him in a rocking chair giving thanks to God for his blessings, not someone who is ready to set off on an adventure. I’m sure that he felt that there were younger, wiser and holier men than him for such a task. Also, in that day and age it was very unusual for people to travel far from their homeland. So what God is asking is HUGE!
In the Bible, there are several examples of God asking people to do such things:
· Jonah said to the Lord “Here I am. I’m not going.
· Moses said to the Lord “Here I am. Send someone else.
· Isaiah said “Here I am, send me.” Isaiah had seen the Lord on his throne in all of his majesty, holiness and power and surrendered to him.
If God approached me and told me to leave, I probably would have hesitated and said that I had chores to do, taxes to complete and a household to run, etc. There’s no way I could pack up everything and set off on an adventure.
But Abram said yes Lord, send me. God promised to make him the leader of a great nation. And off he went to an unknown place that God said he would show them, taking all of his possessions along with his wife Sarai and nephew Lot. So they left for Canaan. As there was a famine in Canaan, they again moved on to Egypt. After a conflict with the king of Egypt over his wife, they were banished from Egypt.
God again spoke to Abram, he gave him the name Abraham and repeated his promise that he would found a great nation and have many descendants as numerous as the stars. As the verse goes on “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Abraham)”. We know
the rest of the story, God gives Sarai (Sarah) a child in her old age and they call him Isaac. It was this son that God asked Abraham to sacrifice on an altar later on. He also had a child (Ishmael) from an Egyptian slave. And he was to have six more sons from a woman who he took as his wife after Sarah’s death. Thus, these sons were to be the start of his new nation.
What I believe this verse is saying is that God has a purpose for each person. We should be ready and willing to heed his calling, to drop things and to follow him. So my prayer during this Lenten season is:
Prayer: Open my eyes and ears Lord to your will. May I be willing to follow you when called upon. Make me your willing servant. Amen.
—Bev Viken