Abram. This is probably one of the most well known stories in the Bible: when God called Abram out from among the Chaldeans and sent him wandering. God had a plan from the beginning, even before Adam and Eve, and there were hints of it even after the Fall. But here we start seeing the plan go into motion. God has chosen one man, and from him will come a nation, and from that nation will come the Savior. And through Abram all peoples will be blessed because from him, eventually, down the line, will come Jesus.
Can you imagine being 75 years old and the God of the Universe comes to you and says, "Get up, leave your country. Go wandering, and I'll show you the land I have promised you."? Wouldn't you be thinking, "I'm in retirement! I'm in my dotage! I'm supposed to be settled down and enjoying the time I have left." But not Abram. God told him to go. And he did. And he moved around quite a bit. In fact, he passed through and often camped in the land that God promised his descendants and yet he never possessed it. It was always on loan, and he had to bargain for a place to bury his family. Again, it's difficult for me to imagine being Abram, who believed the Lord at 75, at 90, at 100 that God indeed would bless him and from him would be a mighty nation. He had lived a lifetime already, and suddenly God brought him a new one. Of course, Abram's not perfect, as we see from the jaunt he and Sarai took down to Egypt. (How could he let it go so far as to let Pharoah take Sarai for a wife?) Thankfully, the Lord intervened, and Abram left Egypt richer than he'd ever been. Kind of a foretelling of what the Israelites will do to the Egyptians when they finally take off...
Tomorrow's Reading: Genesis 14:1-15:21
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