From The Word of the Day Archives on Friday, December 05, 2008
Genesis 11: 31 – Genesis 12: 1, 4
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
1The Lord said to Abram, “leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. 4[A]nd they set out for the land of Canaan and they arrived there.
Have you ever wondered what made Abraham so special? Why did God choose to bless all the nations through him? We often attribute it to his faith. After all, he is called the father of faith. I would suggest the answer is even more basic though.
At this point in Abram’s (Abraham) life he has not demonstrated any faith that has been recorded in the scriptures. In fact, within paragraphs of the passage above, we find Abram not filled with faith at all but rather acting out of fear. When he went into Egypt he was afraid that the Egyptians would kill him over Sarai because of her beauty. So out of fear he lied to Pharaoh and entreated Sarai to lie as well and tell Pharaoh that she was Abram’s sister. Which she did. Instead of killing Abram, the Egyptians courted him and Pharaoh took Sarai as his wife. Abram does not seem a man of faith or virtue at this point.
So how did Abram become the father of us all? The answer seems to be in verse 4 of chapter 12. These words appear, “So Abram left, as the Lord had told him.” It seems obedience was Abram’s great gift and through that he grew to have incredible faith. He obeyed long enough to learn faith and trust.
We cannot know as a certainty from these passages but it appears that God may have told Abram’s father Terah to take his family and go to Canaan. Terah got tired though. He ran out of obedience perhaps. He started out for Canaan but then found a desirable land along the way so he stopped and made his abode there. So then, when he died, God spoke to Abram and told him to pack his family and belongings and leave the home his father had chosen and go to the land God had chosen.
What would have happened if Terah had continued on to the land of Canaan? Might we all be talking about Father Terah instead of Father Abraham? Maybe God would have made a great nation of Terah.
Is there anything the Lord has told you to do that you have not done yet? He wants to pour out the richness of his blessings but he must find obedience to work with. Will you let him put you in the position to be blessed super abundantly? Think back. Search your heart and mind. Pray and ask your Father. Is there anything that you have missed? Every day is a do over in God’s kingdom. If you missed it yesterday, no problem. You have today to fix it.
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