Abram Leaves Home

Abram Leaves Home

Welcome to the start of a new week! Where will God lead you this week? Let’s listen and go! Today’s devotional will cover Genesis 12:1-9

verse 1 – The LORD told Abram, “You are to leave your land, your relatives, and your father’s house and go to the land that I’m going to show you. 2 – I’ll make a great nation of your descendants, I’ll bless you, and I’ll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 – I’ll bless those who bless you, but I’ll curse the one who curses you, and through you all the people of the earth will be blessed.”

Leave all these things that are yours: land, relatives, father’s house. I’m going to show you the land you are to go to. God had long range plans for Abram. Plans that would span generations and would accumulate enough people to form a nation. His plans didn’t stop there. How would the whole earth be blessed through Abram? It would be the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Savior of humanity.

Galatians 3:26 says: For all of you are God’s children through faith in the Messiah Jesus. 27 – Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah. 28 – Because all of you are one in the Messiah Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek a slave or a free person, a male or a female. 29 – And if you belong to the Messiah, then you are Abraham’s descendants indeed, and heirs according to the promise.

God has long range plans for you and for me. The execution of those plans begins with our first act of obedience which is to listen as God speaks and then to go and follow His directions.

Genesis 12:4 – So Abram left there,as the LORD had directed him, and Lot accompanied him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. 5 – Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the servants he had acquired while living in Haran. Then they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, 6 – Abram traveled through the land to the place called Shechem as far as the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

It’s not always smooth sailing. Abram was to leave all his relatives, but one tagged along. It would have been far less complicated if the land Abram was going to was vacant, then he could move right in with out any trouble, but no, it was inhabited. Who knows what might have been in Abram’s mind as he considered these factors and observations, but it was at this time that…

verse 7…the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I’ll give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 – From there Abram traveled on to the hill country east of Bethel and set up his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9 – Then Abram traveled on, continuing into the Negev.

An altar, a landmark, a reminder of God’s message and presence to Him as he was engaged in the work of following while not knowing what he would be facing….All he knew is what God said the end result would be: I will give your descendants this land.

The Bible tells us what the end result of our obedience, our believing God, our faith, will be. A new heaven and a new earth! There will be obstacles along the way. But what are they to God? Let’s keep following!