Monday, 03 August 2009 01:00  |  Written by Steve Hall and posted in Leaving Ur

But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir. Genesis 15:2-3

There is just one problem… Abram had no children. He and Sarai (in their 80s and 70s respectively) are holding on to a promise from God that one day they will hold a baby, their baby, in their arms.

In the mean time they live in a hopeful anguish.

Some of the hardest journeys we take are the emotional ones. Chat to God about how you’re feeling today.

Friday, 31 July 2009 01:00  |  Written by Steve Hall and posted in Leaving Ur

The Lord said to Abram… “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever… Go walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” Genesis 13:14-15 & 17

The Lord invited Abram to walk the length and breadth of the land he was giving him, but why? Why did God think it was important for Abram to do this?

I think it’s because God desired Abraham to walk into his blessing. The more time we spend walking in the promised things of God, the more they become part of us. What has God promised you in Jesus? Are you walking into this?

Thursday, 30 July 2009 01:00  |  Written by Steve Hall and posted in Leaving Ur

Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. Genesis 12:7

At regular intervals on Abram’s journey he builds altars to God. These may have been a wee bit like the Cairns you find up mountains. They acted like stone memorials to remind Abram (and his descendants) of how far God had brought him.

Do you have any “altars” set up in your life to remind you of God’s love and goodness and transformative power in bringing you thus far?

Wednesday, 29 July 2009 01:00  |  Written by Steve Hall and posted in Leaving Ur

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. Genesis 12:4

Up until this point, Abram’s journey with his family had been easy. All they had done thus far (almost without thinking) was follow the Euphrates river and one of her tributaries hundreds and hundreds of miles to Haran. But now as he sets off for “the land [God] will show [him]” (Genesis 12:1) there is no river to follow.

Journeying with God requires stepping out into the unknown trusting that God will show you the way.

Tuesday, 28 July 2009 01:00  |  Written by Steve Hall and posted in Leaving Ur

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:2-3

Religion has always been about staying on the right side of the gods. In the ancient world if you had a bad crop the gods were unhappy with you. Through religious rituals you tried to appease the gods and asked for their blessing.

What’s amazing here is that God blesses Abraham out-of-the-blue! Praise God that his blessing flows out of his tremendous grace! We don’t have to do anything to gain it!

Monday, 27 July 2009 01:00  |  Written by Steve Hall and posted in Leaving Ur

The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12:1

Abram would have lived in a close-knit family community and to be asked to leave them was a big deal. So why does God ask this of Abram? In Abram’s day it was your father who showed you how to pray, appease and sacrifice to the gods. God is calling him out of this old way of living (his father’s household) and into a new life in God’s household.

Friday, 24 July 2009 01:00  |  Written by Steve Hall and posted in Leaving Ur

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 the came to Haran they settled there. Genesis 11:31

The direct route from Ur to Canaan was across impassable desert so Abram’s dad would have led them north and then west alongside the Euphrates River.* Just at the moment when they’re due to turn south for Canaan, they turned north and settle instead in the city of Haran.**

How easy it is sometimes to be tempted off track from God’s way by the comfort and convenience this world has to offer?

FOOTNOTES:
* Ur was a city situated next to the Euphrates River in what is now modern-day southern Iraq
** Modern-day Turkey