Lent Day 5

12 God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
        and bless you.
    I’ll make you famous;
        you’ll be a blessing.
    I’ll bless those who bless you;
        those who curse you I’ll curse.
    All the families of the Earth
        will be blessed through you.”

4-6 So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.

My Mum is 75.  She's a bit creaky nowadays.  Her knee has packed up and she has osteoarthritis.  She spends as much time as possible sitting down.  My Mother-in-law is a similar age.  She is in blooming good health but she is tentative about driving far these days and prefers to stay close to home with her dog.   The thought that either of them might up sticks one day and set off to who knows where with all their possessions in tow is frankly, laughable.  I wonder what Lot and his family thought when Abram turned up at his door and told him the plan.   Did he wonder if the old man was suffering from dementia ?  Did they smile and humour him then laugh when they shut the door and think it would never happen?   Its a totally outrageous thought isnt it?  God turns up and says ' Pack your bags and follow me.'   Or perhaps He says ' leave your nets and follow me'.  or ' Take up your cross and follow me'.     Oh.    Hang on a sec!   

God has always been on the move.  He is not interested in letting us sit still for long.  Because He knows what happens when we make camp - we start building palaces and towers for ourselves.  We demand Kings and start fighting over who has the best plot.   We focus on having arrived somewhere when we haven't arrived at all. And of course the further we go the further we take His presence with us.  So He keeps us moving.  

God never asks us to do things for no reason.  He always has a reason and the reason is usually for OUR good.  So the instruction to get up and go comes with a promise.   Blessing.  Lots and lots of blessing.

I’ll make you a great nation
        and bless you.
    I’ll make you famous;
        you’ll be a blessing.
    I’ll bless those who bless you;
        those who curse you I’ll curse.
    All the families of the Earth
        will be blessed through you.”

God promises Abram greatness and fame.  He promises that Abram will not only be blessed himself but will be a blessing to others.   God promises protection and, incredibly , that the lives of everyone in the whole world will be affected because of his obedience and faith.   And guess what?  God kept His promise!   Because apart from anything else we can ascribe to the children of Abram, the greatest blessing of all came from them - Jesus.  Saviour of the world.   

It takes a huge amount of trust to embark on a journey when you don't know where you are going.  In this day and age we plug in our Sat Navs and check Google maps and the weather forecast before we set out on the simplest journey.   We don't like uncertainty at the best of times.   We have become dependent on technology to make us feel that we are in control of our travels - but in actual fact we have no idea what is going to happen to us tomorrow, or where we might be this time next year, or who might enter or leave our lives in the next ten years.  Life is unpredictable and inexorable.  Whether we like it or not ( and we often don't) we are travelling forwards day by day and we don't know exactly whats round the next corner. 

So many people in the world are walking blind.  They do not know that there is an eternal destiny - an end to the journey.  They do not know that there is Someone who promises to walk alongside us, directing our steps, whispering in our ear ' this is the way, I am the Way' , picking us up when we stumble, offering us His yoke.   They do not know.  So they wander , and many wander off into danger and darkness.   This Lent let's see if we can get alongside people who are weak and weary in the journey or who are stumbling in the dark and offer to walk beside them a while - shining the light God has put in us to help them find the way.  And let us trust God for our own journey - that He has always led His people - yes, sometimes through some very sticky difficult times - so He will lead us too and will not let us fall.