Genesis 12

S - Gen12
O - 1 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. 2 "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. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." 


Hoohar. God wants you to leave everything. Your house, possessions, friends, and move to another country. God doesn't say what country. He just said to go.
However, there is the good part.
He promises to make you into a great country, shower you with blessings, protect you from those who curse you, and bless others through you.
Would you do it? The promises are great. In our modern world, we might be like "oh, I'm quite happy where I am. God please don't disrupt my bubble. I don't want to move out of my comfort zone. Besides, you haven't even told me where you want me to go."


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. 
Woah Abram man, your faith so strong! "So Abram left".
"Prompt obedience" (study bible) is a common theme in the bible. God expects obedience. He wants us to heed his calling.
Whether it's Noah, Abram, Moses, Joshua...Sure they have made mistakes and failed along the way, but these men showed their love for God through their obedience. God also used tax collectors, prostitutes, fishermen. God could call anyone, not just the smart, talented, good-looking, young or popular.


Abram's journey so far:
 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.10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 


As they entered Egypt, Abram tells Sarai to act as his sister so that when the Pharoah inevitably takes her away, he would not be killed.
16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. 


Hmm, I'm not sure why this happened? Abram gained wealth in this way.


17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.


It is evident that God was protecting Abram along the way. Just as God called on Abram, Abram called on the Lord and worshipped him when he sought direction. It's a two-way relationship.


A/P - Have to pray about prompt obedience. There are so many reasons that hinder us and make us reluctant to obey, but true success in life would be to live a Godly one. I'm sure God will guide us along the way, and pick us up when we fall, even when he doesn't reveal where we're heading. Makes me think more about going on missions - something I never considered seriously before the start of this year.