Genesis 12:1
2006.Dec.23 17:59
My apologies. This is going to one of those cheesy have-faith just because, yadda, yadda articles.
The LORD said to Abram: Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.
(Genesis 12:1, NASB)
Yes, this verse and it alone is going to be the subject of this entry. Here goes.
I’m a security and stability kind of guy. I know some folks (yes, I’m from Oklahoma, and I actually use the word “folks”) who at least don’t act security-and-stability. They’re out looking for changes in their lives. The thing they most don’t want to hear from God is “Stay.” I like the word stay, to an extent. That is, if I more or less like where I’m at, I’m okay with staying. Now, since I tend to stay, my feelings reagarding a bad situation are exaggerated somewhat. That is, I then have an inner struggle between my desire for stability and the present dissatisfaction.
I don’t have a real good idea for which way Abraham leans. I tend to find myself identifying with Lot more than with Abraham (and I will probably spend a good deal of time discussing Lot). That’s not meant to imply I have many good things to say about Lot. Hopefully, as I blog through Abraham’s life over the next, oh, six months if I have to guess, I’ll get a better feel for his personality, but I’m not ready to hazard a guess as to his emotional reaction to God’s saying, “Leave what you know and go.” I know my reaction:
“Please no.”
So, when I see later how Abraham is blessed, and how God uses him, and I want to be blessed and used like that, I have to confront my natural reaction. There’s two issues here, personality and faith. I must confront both. My personality doesn’t want to go, and my faith can be weakened by those emotions. The first is okay. Emotions are okay. Letting those emotions dictate my faith is another story. And this goes both ways. What if God tells me to stay? Okay, good, my emotions may be good with that–depending on the situation. But that’s not faith. That’s relief. If I only listen to my emotions response, my action of staying is without faith, and thus is not imbdued with God’s blessing and power. I can have the emotion, but then the decision must be one of God has told me to do this and I choose to have faith and follow him.
Oh, yeah, this entry was rambling to.
Some thoughts, anyway.
