Faithful Friday Faves: Genesis

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

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." - Gen. 12:1

When I began contemplating the idea of doing this series, this verse immediately presented itself as the choice for Genesis.

It has always amazed me that, on this simple directive, Abram took off and went to a place he'd never been.

I mean, how did he decide whether to turn left or right when he got to the end of his father's driveway? He didn't have a pillar of cloud to lead him around; all he had was that nudge in his heart, which he had to trust.

I've often wondered if Abram was the first person to whom God gave that directive...or if he was just the first person who heard it and obeyed.

And what was Abram leaving?
He was leaving everything he knew and was familiar and comfortable with; he was leaving his place of position as the son and heir and going to a place where he was just a traveling nobody, with no authority and no credibility and no status. He was leaving 'being known' and traveling to 'being unknown'. He was leaving stability and predictability and heading into total dependence on God.

There was a time in our lives in which this verse was exceedingly significant. After serving God steadily in a little church for a fuzz over 20 years, we began to feel God stirring us to change. We weren't sure just exactly what form of change that would be, so we stepped out of our positions of responsibility for a season to see where we would be led. Were we going to a new city? Were we to, perhaps, change our focus and start a new ministry in the church we were in? Were we being led to a different church? We weren't sure.

But when we began our sabbatical, suddenly we began encountering Genesis 12:1 in all kinds of ways...in messages that we listened to on tapes, in meetings that we attended, in discussions with friends...over and over again 'Leave...and go to the land I will show you.'

When we finally left our little church and headed out to see where God would lead us, we were doing very much the same things, although on different levels. We didn't change countries...but we didn't just leave the church we'd been in, we left the denomination we'd been in. Not because we disagreed with anything, or had issues over anything, but because God said 'Go to the place I will show you.'

That was 9 years ago. I have no doubts that we are serving God where we are meant to be serving Him. I may not understand everything about the way He does things, but I do know that I can trust Him.