Moving On

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

MOVING ON

Gen 12:4-9

4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

NIV

Once Abram reached the land of Canaan, where the descendants of Ham, the Canaanites, lived, he traveled as far as the great tree of Moreh in Shechem. Although this only takes a verse, the road distance from Haran to  Shechem is about 600 miles. Considering Abram was traveling with his wife, Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and the people he had acquired in Haran, all his possessions, herds of sheep, cattle, or camels, they could not move very quickly, so this journey could have taken days, even months.  It was definitely different than our travel times. They would have to stop each night, pitch the tents, set up camp, prepare food, and whatever, but the point is Abram stayed the course, doing exactly what the LORD had told him to do, even if it might have been difficult and took some time. Once Abram arrived at the great tree of Morah at Shechem, the LORD appeared to Abram. This was Jehovah, the self-existent one, who appeared to Abram. How is it that Abram saw God and lived? What did he appear as? What did Abram see? Whoever Abram was visited by must have made it one of the most pivotal moments of his life. He was told the LORD was going to give this land to his descendants. We know Abram was seventy when he set out from Haran, and at that time he had no son, but he heard that his descendants would have this land. Abram had to have believed because he set up an altar there where Jehovah had appeared to him. Faith is a mighty force. Again, it is far different from believing in God and believing God. Abram believed the LORD. We are not told that Abram argued with the LORD, or said, "How is that possible? I am an old man already; how long will it be before I have any descendants? How long is this going to take"? Do we ever ask questions like that when or if we hear from the Lord? Has the Lord ever appeared to us in some way? Why are we Christians? What reason do we believe God? What caused us to follow Jesus? We must have had some kind of experience like Abram did for us to do what we have been instructed to do, as Abram was, and follow through on what the Lord has told us. Abram was given specific instructions as to where he was to leave from and travel to. We have to believe the Lord still has specific instructions for us as to where he wants us to go, or be, and what to do there. As believers, as followers of Jesus, we cannot just wander around in life doing our own thing, show up at some church one day a week for one hour, and think the will of God is being done on earth, in our lives, as it is in heaven. Of course, Abram had to do the daily living, but he was doing that as he was going where the LORD told him to go. We cannot settle for just living our daily lives; we must always be moving on with God.