September 14th, 2021 – Tuesday Afternoon
“Now the LORD said to Abram,
‘Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you…'” ~Genesis 12:1
“For we walk by faith, not by sight…” ~2 Corinthians 5:7
The magnitude of what the LORD was commanding Abram to do is hardly felt in our social media driven, high tech, and fast paced global culture. Remember that in Abram’s day there were no bicycles, no cars, no trains, no planes, no radio service, no postal service, no phone service, no internet service, no global positioning systems, etc., etc., etc. Abram was called to leave not only his country (what was familiar), not only his relatives (those whom he trusted), but also his father’s house (his home and his heritage). It would mean that, at 75 years old, he would uproot from everything he knew and was comfortable with in order to journey to an unknown location with unknown circumstances.
This was not an easy road that the LORD was calling Abram to, but the promise that he could rely on was that the LORD would be the One in charge. Abram wasn’t promised comfort, happiness, or safety, but he was promised the LORD’s blessing, guidance, and protection. We’ll cover the blessings in a future devotional, Lord willing; for now, let us focus on this particular verse and what it held for Abram. In contrast to the trouble that he would likely face, the loss he would most definitely endure, and the uncertainty of the future, Abram had the Sovereign Supreme and Almighty Creator as his Guide and Stay. It may not seem like a very fair trade from a human perspective, and it isn’t…however, it isn’t fair because what Abram had to give up was NOTHING in comparison to what he gained in the LORD!
The trustworthiness of the LORD is well known and attested to by generation after generation after generation, but it can only be realized in one’s life by faith. Abram had to take the LORD at His word (and His track record) and find out for himself whether he would be blessed or cursed. Of course, we have the end of Abram’s (later Abraham’s) story and we know that the LORD abundantly kept His promises to him, but we don’t know the end of ours. Yet, the same God who promised to show Abram the land where he was to go is the same God who has brought us, by faith, to the understanding of the truth through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is still just as trustworthy and faithful as He always has been since before time began.
Are you in the middle of what Henry Blackaby would call a “crisis of belief”? Are you struggling with a tough decision of whether to obey the LORD or stay with what’s comfortable, safe, and familiar? Is the trouble you are in more than you can bear? Is what you know being challenged by the Great I Am? The reality is that our circumstances, position, power, resources, etc. do not matter in the face of His reality; we can never compare any of that to the treasure we find in the LORD.
Stop looking at this life from the finite human perspective. Instead, let us “see” with eyes of faith…and walk in humble submission to the only God who is worthy, faithful, and good!