The trip without a Map

Genesis 1:1-9

A trip to remember was my 50^th birthday backpacking trip to Germany, Austria and Italy.  My brother Fred assured Jan and I that we did not need to make reservations before hand, he assured us there would be a prodigious amount of B&B’s and hotels available since we were going first to Germany after Oktoberfest.  So we went without reservations, and a very loose plan on where we were going and most days in Germany were spent looking for a place to spend the night, it was not going well, the backpacks were somewhat heavy, and not knowing where you would sleep was wearing on both of us. 

I wonder how Abram and his group were doing, as they left Mesopotamia and made a very long trip, before they arrived at Haran.  After Abram’s father had died, Abram and group left Haran to follow God’s command.  The gospel of Acts 7:2-3, gives this account from Stephen’s speech before the religious guys stoned him.  “Brothers and fathers, hear me.  The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, “Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’  Then he went out of the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran.  And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living.”   Now that’s a little different look at Abram, he was more like you and me than we might have thought in fact he was just like us.  Abram, when he first heard God speak to him fell short of the definition of obedience; obedience is doing what you are told, the very first time you are told, with the right heart attitude, anything other than that is disobedience.”

Before we are too hard on Abram, it might be important to read Joshua 24:2, “And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.”  Yes, Abraham was like us and yes, we have a Bible that Abraham did not have, but still our fathers have worshipped other gods, not the gods of the moon and stars as Terah did, but of materials and wealth, where they had little need for God, till God removed whatever it was they were putting trust in.  Here is what God told Abram, in Genesis 12:1, “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.”

Often, I cry out to God, “ Lord, I can’t, every time I turn around I’m messing up, living independent of You, and I recall the words of Major Ian Thomas, “You can’t, I never said you could, I can and I promised I would.”  I cannot live the Christian life, the only person who has ever lived it is Jesus Christ, and He wants to do it all for me, in a faith walk.  In Genesis 17:1-2, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make a covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”  Then Abram fell on his face.   He got it!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice