The Call of Abram
A Devotional Series from Genesis
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
8/14 Reading Portions: 1 Samuel 4; Romans 4; Jeremiah 42; Psalm 18
Genesis 12:1
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.”
LAND
Beginning in Genesis chapter twelve, we have yet another case of details being given after a general truth had been told (Gen 11:27-32). From yesterday’s devotional, we have already considered that this call of God to Abram had taken place to leave his family in Ur of Mesopotamia, yet as Stephen’s testimony before the Sanhedrin informed us (Acts 7:1-4), Abram went with Terah, Lot, and Sarai north to Haran instead of east to Canaan.
Haran wasn’t Abram’s country. Ur was. And YHVH God called to Abram just as Christ called to you and me. Jesus said “Follow me…” many times in the gospel accounts. In sending out His disciples to prepare the towns and villages He would visit by preaching the kingdom of Christ being at hand, the Lord Jesus said,
“And whoever does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10:38
Although Abram knew he was to go to Canaan (Gen 11:31), he did not know exactly where (Heb 11:8); but he went anyway.
Because we know that…
…the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:29
…we can sometimes get sidetracked by our situations and circumstances. It happened to Abram. He received the call of God to follow Him, to go to a place he had never been before, to trust in a good and sovereign God who told him to go. Despite staking a tent in Haran until the death of his father, God’s call to Abram still stood.
Let us not be discouraged if, at times, we’ve ever looked to the left or to the right in this life, taking the gaze of our eyes of faith momentarily off the Lord Jesus Christ. As He called Abram to be salt and light upon the earth in the midst of a wicked people, Jesus has called us to be that blessing to others as well. Jesus is taking you and me to a land that He will indeed show us, a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar; for the Father waits over the way to prepare us a dwelling place there.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!