Genesis 12 is the lodestone for those of us ‘in waiting.’ God gives a promise that is so staggering, we are still reeling under its magnitude.
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3)
“In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Granted Abraham – or Abram, as he was called then - didn’t understand the significance of this promise. Probably the first command was already causing his blood to run cold. In the culture of that day, and in much of Turkey even today, your family’s support and influence are your currency. To go to an unknown place with no family or connections would have been a very sobering thing. Better take along a nephew. Taking a brother might seem distrust of the Lord but a nephew, who’s going to notice?
Stephen in Acts 7 lets Abraham’s secret out of the bag that God had actually called Abram when he was still in Ur. He got as far as Harran (Şanlıurfa in modern Turkey) when, after his father’s death, God nudged him again. God is so gracious that way. Jonah later does exactly the same thing. And like Jonah, after the second time, Abraham obeys.
One would think that obedience to God’s call ensures a smooth journey but Scripture is full of examples that our definition of a straight line to the goal is very often not God’s definition. Abram over and over finds himself a refugee:
Genesis 12:10 Despite being in the land that God is going to “give to your offspring”, famine drives Abram to be an economic refugee in Egypt.
Genesis 12:19-20 Abram becomes politically displaced by Pharaoh after the incident regarding Sarai.
Genesis 13:6-7 Scarcity and conflict with Lot drive Abram and Sarai out again.
We forget about economic refugees once the crisis is over. But there’s a very good reason there are more Murphys and O’Neills in the US than in Ireland. The Irish Famine of the 1840s reshaped both Ireland and North America when out of a population of 8 million, one million died and another 2 million fled to North America for refuge. Of the nearly 100,000 who left for Canada in 1847, at least 30,000 were dead by the end of that year, perishing at sea or shortly after arrival. More boat people.
While Abraham wandered as an economic refugee, he was not recognised as the source of God’s blessings to the nations. How many other economic refugees have God’s anointing and we haven’t noticed? Consider a gift to World Relief in the US (www.worldrelief.org) or TEARFund in the UK (www.tearfund.org), two excellent organisations who compassionately care for economic refugees.
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3)
“In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Granted Abraham – or Abram, as he was called then - didn’t understand the significance of this promise. Probably the first command was already causing his blood to run cold. In the culture of that day, and in much of Turkey even today, your family’s support and influence are your currency. To go to an unknown place with no family or connections would have been a very sobering thing. Better take along a nephew. Taking a brother might seem distrust of the Lord but a nephew, who’s going to notice?
Stephen in Acts 7 lets Abraham’s secret out of the bag that God had actually called Abram when he was still in Ur. He got as far as Harran (Şanlıurfa in modern Turkey) when, after his father’s death, God nudged him again. God is so gracious that way. Jonah later does exactly the same thing. And like Jonah, after the second time, Abraham obeys.
One would think that obedience to God’s call ensures a smooth journey but Scripture is full of examples that our definition of a straight line to the goal is very often not God’s definition. Abram over and over finds himself a refugee:
Genesis 12:10 Despite being in the land that God is going to “give to your offspring”, famine drives Abram to be an economic refugee in Egypt.
Genesis 12:19-20 Abram becomes politically displaced by Pharaoh after the incident regarding Sarai.
Genesis 13:6-7 Scarcity and conflict with Lot drive Abram and Sarai out again.
We forget about economic refugees once the crisis is over. But there’s a very good reason there are more Murphys and O’Neills in the US than in Ireland. The Irish Famine of the 1840s reshaped both Ireland and North America when out of a population of 8 million, one million died and another 2 million fled to North America for refuge. Of the nearly 100,000 who left for Canada in 1847, at least 30,000 were dead by the end of that year, perishing at sea or shortly after arrival. More boat people.
While Abraham wandered as an economic refugee, he was not recognised as the source of God’s blessings to the nations. How many other economic refugees have God’s anointing and we haven’t noticed? Consider a gift to World Relief in the US (www.worldrelief.org) or TEARFund in the UK (www.tearfund.org), two excellent organisations who compassionately care for economic refugees.
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