City Life Starter

Written by Stefan Johnsson

The Word

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Genesis 12:4-9 (ESV)

⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. ⁹ By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.

Hebrews 11:8-10 (ESV)

Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. ”

Deuteronomy 31: 7-8

So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

Joshua 11:23

Reflection

When God told Abram(ham) to leave Haran and go to the land promised to him, he did a tour around the land, made sacrifices to God, and worshiped Him. Abram had peace with King Abimelech whilst living in his tents and never stopped being a sojourner in the land promised to his offspring by God. He didn’t own any land until he had to bury Sarai(h), his wife, and bought a plot of land so he could bury her there. Abram never saw the fulfillment of God’s promise given to his offspring, even though he lived amongst the Canaanites for the rest of his life, except of course his moment of poor judgment when traveling to Egypt. On top of that, he was already an old man of 75 years and had no offspring. Yet, he obeyed God, surveyed the goodness of the land, and believed God would make His promises true, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

It wasn’t until around 600 years later that Israel came into the promised land and conquered it. God’s promise may have seemed like it would never come, but He was building a nation of people, a holy priesthood, that would follow and serve Him. God wanted to make sure the nations knew who He was and that the small remnant He had chosen would ultimately bring salvation to the entire world through Jesus.

Application

Abram may have never seen the fulfillment of the promise given to him, but he trusted God. He had faith to leave Haran, faith to survey the land yet live as a sojourner, and faith that the land God promised to him and his offspring will come to fruition. In our current society, we are a people who want instant gratification and instant answers from God. Yet, God answers promises in His time, and His time may not be in Your lifespan. Yet, we are called to live by faith and belief that God is in control and knows what’s best for us. That even though we may be faithless at times, He will always be faithful because He cannot deny Himself.

Put your trust in God and obey His calling in your life. He will never disappoint.

Prayer

Father in heaven, help me to have the kind of faith that Abram had when he left Haran. He trust in You to fulfill the promises given to him. Let me life in such a way to trust and obey Your calling in my life and Your voice through the Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.