"The Lord had said to Abram "Leave your country, your people & your fathers\'s household & go to the land I will show you.
"I will make you into a great nation & I will bless you"
Genesis 12:1-2a (NIV)
Moving can be very nerve wracking at any age. But Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. And according to scripture, Abram had become very wealthy in livestock, silver & gold. Now i know how much "stuff" i've had to pack & move so i can only imagine how much of a task this move for Abram might have been. I knew where i was moving to & i had friends there. Abram was taking his wife & his nephew & they really didn't know where they would end up. They were moving only because that's what the Lord told Abram to do.
I remember when my hubby & i made our first move together. Let's just say that we had to use a friend's snow blower before we could load up the truck. And as so, Abram's move did not go smoothly either. He had an encounter with Pharaoh that ended badly. Then quarreling arose between Abram's men & his nephew, Lot's men. Lot went his own way, but it wasn't long before Abram had to go rescue him. Gosh! And i thought that snow was bad!
"After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
Do not be afraid Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward."
Genesis 15:1 (NIV)
So Abram had faith & did what the Lord told him. What's so great about that? Abram never saw a Bible, had no church, posed no creed, never took part in a communion service, & never heard even one of the Ten Commandments & probably knew very little about life after death. Abram risked his life, his security, his reputation, & his future. Abram's faith shows what really matters. He simply heard the voice of God & simply took Him at His word. Abram believed God's promise.
Moving is a whole lot easier today. We have motorized transportation & even companies to hire to help us pack up & move. And we now have the Bible, churches, creeds, communion services & the Ten Commandments. We have so many opportunities to learn about God & to worship Him. But God still looks for the basics - God still looks for hearts that will risk it all to trust Him.
Abram made it to his new home & was blessed many times over. They say that faith is believing in things not seen. What an amazing demonstration of faith. And it is by faith - and faith alone - that we are saved.
Thank you so much for the reminder. I had to move earlier this year ~ guess mine was easy. It's great to know that God is in control and He never abandon's us. I am loving your blog posts. What an inspiration! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Doodle. There are times i wonder if my blogs are worth it. But when i get such a response, i know that it's God doing the writing & not me. Thanks for being a blessing to me. <><
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