June 24, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“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 Harran, they settled there..” (Genesis 11.31)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

It may have happened to you with your children while travelling even on a short trip to grandma’s house but especially on a longer one that you heard “Are we there yet?” Commercials have been made utilizing that phrase for the marketing of a variety of products. Honestly, I am surprised that Buckee’s hasn’t produced a commercial with parents listening to their kids clambering “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” Of course, what they are anticipating is the stop at Buckee’s on the way to grandma’s house. “Over the river and through the woods, to Buckee’s on the way to….” I dare say, there are times when we are saying the same thing to God when it seems our lives continue to pass through rough seasons, fruitless seasons and valleys of the shadow of death. “Are we there yet?” We do not know where we are going. We want to demonstrate a level of patience and faithfulness, but our prayers are filled with “what,” “who,” “when,” “why,” “how” and “where.” It is a strange thing about the where that seems to rise up the most often. We have in mind the end with such intensity that we do not see the journey along the way as the possible destination. We have serious questions about what we are learning in the place where we are and what could even be done there. Yet, the God who ordered creation out of chaos can certainly see the need to do some work wherever we are and equip us with what is needed to accomplish it. Instead of being the tail that wags the dog, we might beg a little for the window to be rolled down so the tail wags with anticipation of everything the dog experiences along the way.

As I read today’s verse in the journey through Genesis, I was reminded of a trip Abram and his family were taking to find a new home. We do not know the actual reason for Abram’s father to pack up, pick up and leave. It could have been a drought, business gone wrong, a difference of opinion about leadership in the Ur of the Chaldees or the promise of a better life. It could have been a move of God as yet unidentified. What we do know is that when the clan reached Haran, they stopped. They didn’t just set up camp and stay the night. They established themselves as residents of Haran. Now the following verses tell us that Terah died at the age of 205. This was relatively young considering the legacies of his predecessors so perhaps there was an illness and this is why they stopped. Terah couldn’t go further. After his death, we know that God called Abram to continue the journey his father started. This is the power of respect and legacy. Abram followed his father to a land they knew little about. When Abram felt the urge to say “Are we there yet?”, God said “No, go on to where I will show you.” The journey to Canaan continued. Abram showed faith in his father’s dream and in the word of God.

We dare not lose sight that Abram heard the Word of God. Abram was brought up in a culture and climate that was polytheistic (the worship of many gods.) There was a pantheon of gods in the temples of Ur and Babylon. They most likely followed the constellations much like the calendar of today with astrology and astronomy as the leads. There is a distinct possibility that Terah would have been a magi or a precursor of the magi. In the day of Abram and Terah, the chief god worshipped in the pantheon for that age was a bull. We find other cultures following a shared understanding of the age in the Far East, in Egypt and in the “Middle East” such as in Canaan. It would be in Canaan that Abram would meet Melchizadek who was a priest and a king of Salem. That city’s name would eventually change to Ur-Salem, or Jerusalem. A city of “light and peace.” The point of this reflection is that Abram and his family had already chosen a god to believe in as the supreme god. It would be in the call to follow the word of the that as a statement of faith that Abram found this god to be unlike all others. He could call upon the name of the Lord God as did the descendants of Seth before the flood. Many people may hear God or belief they hear something. What becomes most critical is not simply hearing but listening to the word and discern it by its fruit. Abram did and the promise extended to him, as we read in chapter 12, becomes a reality. It can be the same for us who choose to listen to the word of God named Jesus who is the Christ. He leads us as well to a promised land that shall never end and shall exist far greater than anything this “world” has seen.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.