A Decision Toward The Unknown...

This week, we are looking at a section of the very first letter in the Bible, called the book of Genesis. Yesterday, we saw God engage a man named Abram in a conversation. Actually it was not much of a conversation. Instead it was the Lord giving Abram a command: The Lord commanded Abram to leave his country, his culture, and the religious system of his family behind. Abram was to leave all that he had previously known behind in order to go to the land which I will show you. The Lord did not provide Abram a destination; instead Abram was simply pointed in the right direction and told to get going.

You see, Abram has a decision to make. And the decision that Abram had to make is the very same decision that we have to make, isn’t it? The decision that Abraham faced, and that we face, is this: Am I going to trust God? Am I going to obey God?  Am I going to leave what I have known in the past to follow God? Or am I going to stay far from God, focused on the familiar, the comfortable. We see Moses record for us Abram’s response in Genesis 12:4:

So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had accumulated, and the persons which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; thus they came to the land of Canaan.

Moses records for us that Abram responded to God’s command to leave his country, his culture, and the religious system of his family behind to follow Him by trusting and obeying God. Abram started to follow the Lord, one day at a time, one step at a time. Moses tells us that Abram was seventy five years old when he departed from Haran.

But why would Moses mention his age. I mean, is his age really that significant? As we will see throughout this series, Abram’s age is mentioned here because this is a pivotal point in Abram’s life. You see, God had brought Abram to a fork in the road, so to speak. This decision would serve to be a turning point in Abram’s life that would have a profound impact on his life.

Maybe you find yourself at the same place that Abram was. Maybe you find yourself at a fork in the road, faced with a decision: Which way should I go? Should I stay far from God? Or should a trust and follow God? Should I keep on the road that is resulting in me making decisions that disobey God? Or should I pivot away from that road and turn towards a life that trusts and obeys God with the decisions that I make?

For Abram, his decision was to obey God and trust God with the results of that obedience. And as Abram left, he did not leave alone. Along with Abram and Sarai, his wife, Moses tells us that Lot also made the journey away from Haran and to the unknown. As we discovered in Genesis 11:28, Lot’s father had previously passed away. So Abram had responsibility to care for Lot. In addition, Abram’s wife Sarai had no children, so Lot was a potential heir to all that Abram and Sarai owned.

So Abram, Sarai, and Lot packed up and headed south from Haran as they followed the Lord’s direction. Now this was not a short trip. Most scholars believe that this journey was approximately 400 miles long and would have taken them around a month to complete. Moses tells us that the Lord led Abram to the land of Canaan. Moses tells us what happens next in verse 6:

Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now the Canaanite was then in the land. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

Abraham entered into the northern end of the land of Canaan and traveled to Shechem, which was located in the center of the Land of Canaan. However, Abram could not take possession of the land because it was already possessed by the Canaanites. So Abram found himself as an alien in a foreign land with foreign culture, traditions, and religions, which made what happened next all the more amazing.

Moses tells us that Abram had another encounter with the Lord. This time, however, Abram did not simply hear from the Lord. Instead, the Lord appeared to Abram. And as the Lord appeared to Abram, the Lord proclaimed to Abram an amazing promise: "To your descendants I will give this land."

In other words, God says to Abram “while you are an outsider here now, there will be a day in the future when your descendants will be here as insiders. There will be a day when this will be the place from which your descendants would become a great nation. There will be a day when this will be the place from which your name would be made much of. There will be a day when this will be the place from which through your descendants, all humanity would have the opportunity to find blessing as you found a blessing.”

Moses records for us that Abram responded to the Lord’s appearance and promise by building an altar. However, nowhere does Moses tell us that Abram worshipped from the altar. Now this raises a question, which is “then why even build the altar?”  Abram built an altar to demonstrate that he believed and trusted in God’s promise that he would receive the land. You see, in building the altar, the altar would serve as a symbol that he trusted and believed that one day his descendants would dwell in the land.

However, Abram was not done traveling. Friday, we will see where Abram would be heading next…