Get up! Go! Leave! You don’t know the destination, but you’ll know you’ve been blessed and will be a blessing! That was God’s call to Abram (Abraham). If it had not been for that call for Abram to pick up and go, most of what we know of the Scriptures would have been very different, or would never have been written at all.
Much of the story of God’s relationship with humanity unfolds in the sojourns of God’s people: The journey to find a wife for Isaac; Jacob’s sojourn to Laban and return home; Joseph’s forced removal to Egypt where his family eventually joins him; Ruth and Naomi’s refugee flight to find a place of safety; the 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness; the Exile of the Judah to Babylon and return; Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem and flight to Egypt; Jesus’ wandering ministry; Paul’s evangelistic journeys through Asia and Europe; and, finally Paul’s journey to Rome for trial before Caesar. When God’s people stay in one place too long, they tend to get lackadaisical. When God’s people are on the move, the trials of travel turn to trails of trust.
Today (and/or tomorrow if your schedule doesn’t permit today), get outside for a good, long walk or jog or ride. If you’re physically limited, take a drive to a park or quiet place (by all means avoid the Interstates lest your spiritual pilgrimage end up in an infuriating traffic jam), or, if you’re completely locked down because of COVID, then make it a spiritual journey to a place of peace. As you travel, meditate upon this Scripture of Abram’s call from Genesis 12:
God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you. I’ll make you a great nation and bless you. I’ll make you famous; you’ll be a blessing. I’ll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I’ll curse. All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you.”
So, Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan.
Questions for reflection:
How do you think Abram felt leaving the safety of his father’s protection?
Have you ever “left home”, whether for school, for work, for a new life?
How did you feel leaving the safety of home?
How did you experience God’s blessing in leaving?
How were you a blessing to others?
Do you see God launching something new in your future?
What is your sense of expectation about that new direction?
Buen Camino!
Rev. Dr. David Chisham
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