Many people will know the story of Abram: How God came to him with a big promise of what God was going to do with him and his family, and then God asked him to leave where he was and to go to a place that God would show him. (You can check it out in Genesis 12 and see this post for more)
What’s interesting is what is written before this in Genesis 11:31
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
Terah, father of Abraham, sets out to the land of Canaan (which was actually promised to his great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Shem – see Gen 9:26) However, something happened along the way. They settled somewhere short of their destination.
The story doesn’t record why, or what happened. Maybe they encountered some opposition or hardship. Maybe they just lingered along the way a little bit too long and it became more comfortable to stay than to keep going. We don’t know. All we know is they set out for the land of promise but they settled on the way.
And that causes me to pause and ponder. Is there anything in me that’s settled where I am? Are there any areas of my life where I set out in pursuit of the promise, but I’ve settled along the way instead of persevering to the destination? Is there any part of me which is willing to settle for less than the fullness of God’s promise?
What about you? What will you settle for?
In Terah’s case he never makes it. He dies in that place, short of their intended destination, and God leaves him there and asks Abram to get moving instead.
The history of God’s people is full of those who set out in pursuit of God’s call but then settled on the way – requiring God to leave them there and call the next generation to follow him. My prayer today is that will never be the case for us who follow God today. I pray that we may never settle for anything short of what God has promised, but instead to press on in faith, and so receive all that he has promised.
13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:13
Filed under: Christian Life
