Genesis 12:1-4
“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. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing….I will bless those who bless you….. So Abram went as the Lord had told him.'”
I was reading this passage this week, and wanted to share some simple thoughts with you.
- In these verses that we so easily read and move past, God has asked Abram to leave everything. With no end destination in sight, but with the promise that he will end up in the land that God will show him.
- This is more of a personal note, but it struck me that God told Abram that on this journey He would bless those who bless Abram. Could you imagine being so close to the Father’s heart, that those who bless you, are blessed by Him? Are we walking so closely with God and aligned with His plan, that when others encourage us in the journey, God blesses them? Are we a bright enough light for Christ that when people bless us, they see Him through our successes?
Genesis 12:7-8
“Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “to your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord. From there he moved to the hill country… and pitched his tent… And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.”
Genesis 12:10
“Now there was a famine in the land”
3. And finally, my last thought is this: Abram was doing all that God asked him to do. And sometimes there is still a famine in the land.
I know that a literal famine is not as probable in our lives, but sometimes there is a thirst in our heart that just longs to be quenched. Maybe it’s the longing for a better relationship with family. Maybe it’s a long repeated prayer for a friend to know Jesus. Or maybe it’s just the thought, that if you have really been doing your best and obeying Jesus, you expected things would be easier by now.
But just like Abram’s life, Jesus invites us to be partakers in the journey. And in God’s journey, things like famines and thirsting, always have a way of bringing us closer to Him.
Years after Abram (later named Abraham) was dead, this was said about him in Hebrews 11:8
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going… For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”
As I think about the communities that we live in, and the communities that Next Step serves in, I remember that each of us are on a journey.
In Clendenin, West Virginia, the journey has not always been easy.
This community has endured a lot of pain over the years, and life here does not come without hardships. But I am thankful for messages like this one, that remind us that we can draw near to God, He will bless us and bless those who we come in contact with, and He promises to be in control of the plan for our lives.
