June 28, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you….’ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him.” (Genesis 12.1, 4a)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

We do not know the full story of how it happened that Abram and his father separated. We do know that Terah was 145 when Abram continued the journey to Canaan his father had started. How long they had been in Haran is anybody’s guess. I figure that it wasn’t long. Regardless, when God spoke to Abram that promise found in the beginning verses of chapter 12, Abram went. It had to be with a sense of resignation on both the parts of Terah and Abram. As I mentioned before, Terah died sixty years after Abram and all the rest of the family departed. It may well have been that Terah fell ill or had some serious debilitating accident and could not continue to the journey. Abram, being loyal to his father, may have wanted to stay with him. He would have had the responsibility to care for his father and his father’s property. He would have bound by his love for his father to do so. He would have been compelled to do so. Terah may or may not have encouraged Abram to do so. Terah may have wanted Abram to continue the journey which he had started and Abram refused. Whatever the conversation was, the word from God confirmed it and blessed it. I have a feeling that confirmation was the experience shared between Abram and Terah; possibly Lot as well. It was “settled,” to use the word we have been reflecting on these past couple of days as it was used in Genesis 11. Yes, God settled whatever conversation was had between the two as father and son. I have an idea, something in my spirit, that there was more to the dialogue than just “father and son” duty and responsibility. I believe it was more generationally faith bound. Terah, as we mused, just didn’t up and want to go to Canaan. There was more to that story than is told. The Bible is filled with a lot of knowledge and information. It is also filled with mystery. Such mystery invites us to consider and remember the role which faith plays in all of our lives. Whether we belief we have faith or not, and we all have faith in something but here I am speaking of faith in God the Creator and Sustainer of all life, faith is a part of who we are. Faith is a part of our created being. Faith is a part of our spiritual being. Faith is part of our past, present and future. Faith is a part of our every day living and in every step we take. We must become more cognizant of it. We must be more in tune with it. As we are, then the promise which God has made with each one of us before we were even born will become known to us. Yes, I believe that God has made a promise to each one of us before we were born. We have the word of God which says to us, as it said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you were born I set you apart.” (Jeremiah 1.5) For Jeremiah, God set him apart to be a prophet to Israel and thus to all future generations of believers in the Jewish and Christian traditions. For us, God has a plan and a purpose to be accomplished. It is not a force of will upon any of us but a movement of the spirit which urges us, reveals to us and confirms it when we are willing to surrender to it by whatever circumstance. I believe this is what happened to Terah and thus to Abram.

Terah may have heard the word of God call him and his family away from the Ur of the Chaldees. He was given a privilege to see the end of that journey being in Canaan but was not privileged to actually experience it. He would have another role to play in the course of the people and nation of Israel. We would see it later when Isaac would send Jacob to Padan-Haran to find a wife from his own people. It would actually be the people of Rebekah’s family, Isaac’s wife. From the house of her brother Laban. They were a people of faith connected then to his grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s family. The purpose of going back there was the warning to not marry a Canaanite woman as they did not share the same faith in God. We can also see some similarity to the story of Moses and the vision of the Promised Land given to Israel through him. Sadly, because of Moses’ contentiousness with God, he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. He was taken to Mount Nebo where he could see it and the people of God preparing to enter in. I am not saying that Terah had committed a wrong against God and thus would not be allowed to enter into Canaan. I am only saying that there is a story of faith which is associated with both situations: Abram and Joshua. Both believed in the word of God and its promise. Both committed themselves to lead the people into the promise which God had established for them. Both would inhabit the promised land coming out of Egypt. God had a plan and it would not be thwarted. For me, that is the point of this reflection and the lesson it teaches and offer to all who will read it and consider it. What is that lesson? “God said it, Abram did it and would settle for nothing less than God.”

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.