The Ordered Footsteps

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE ORDERED FOOTSTEPS

Gen 11:27-32

27 This is the account of Terah.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children. 31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 Terah lived 205 years, and died in Haran.

NIV

We are once again passing by the list of men who begotten men to come to Abram. We could list them but the interesting thing is the lifespans were diminishing through each one. We noticed that Shem whose genealogy this is, the one whom both Ham and Japheth were to bow to, Ham was to be a slave to Shem and Japheth was to live in the tent of Shem, who Noah blessed. It is through this line of Shem that Jesus would come into the world. However, we need to get to Abram, so we must at least start with his father Terah. We notice Abram had two brothers, Harah was the father of Lot, and now we have Abram and his nephew Lot for the great story that will unfold to us in the next chapters of this account of the beginning of mankind. We are also introduced to Abram’s wife Sarai and are already told that she is barren, which again is setting up the great story that will unfold. The importance of our being told that Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram is they all left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. Still, they settled in Haran, before getting to Canaan. We know from later in this chapter of the beginning of mankind, that God told Abram he called him from Ur, although the time of his calling was when he was in Haran. This leads us to know that God’s hand was at work in the life of Terah, the father of Abram to get them the move to where God wanted Abram to be, in the land of Canaan. Why is this relevant in our lives? What do we learn that improves our lives in Christ? We know that we might make our plans, and we know that God orders our footsteps. God ordered the footsteps of Terah from Ur to Haran, and we know he ordered the footsteps of Abram all the way from Ur to Canaan. This should tell us that our footsteps are not random but are also ordered by God. This should also give us a clue that we should always be aware of the voice of God, for ignoring his call upon our steps will lead us into not only temptations but also danger. How can we live without the order of God, or without his ordering our way, our footsteps? Life itself is dependent on listening to and obeying the voice of God. When we heard the call of God to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, for we did not do that on our own accord, that was not the end of God but just the beginning of God ordering our way through this life and to life everlasting. Therefore, we will never stop listening, we will stop following the order of God in our footsteps in joyful anticipation of where we are and where we might be. We will just follow him, as Jesus said, follow me.