Meditation 233
Genesis 12: 1-4a
Yesterday’s psalm described the life of the people who fears God. They are steadfast, they are not afraid and their hearts are firm, secure in the Lord. The bible lesson for today is the story of the call of Abram. The Lord spoke to Abram and told him to leave the land where he lived to go to another place that the Lord would give him. Up to this point we know very little about Abram. He is introduced at the end of chapter 11 in Genesis. We are told that Abram is the son of Terah, the husband of Sarai, he brother of Haran and the uncle of Lot. Terah was going to take his family to Canaan, but when they got to Haran they settled there.
Some time later, after Terah had died the Lord spoke to Abram and directed him to go to the land of Canaan (verse 5). For Abram to have acted so decisively he must have been one who feared the Lord, whose heart was secure in the Lord. Those of you who know the story of Abram know that he didn’t always act with such strong faith. Sometimes he tried to take matters into his own hands. Abram was like any other believer in that he had times he could rely wholly on God, and times when his faith faltered. Some might feel that Abram would be a better example of faith if he had always gotten it right. I feel that when we look at Abram, we can have hope because we see that God did not abandon Abram. Abram’s heart could be secure in God because God is dependable. In today’s story, Abram is given a big direction to follow and he does that.
In my own life I hope to live as one whose heart is secure in the Lord. I know that God hers my prayers and that God is just and all powerful. In spite of that at times it can be hard to wait for the answers to my prayers. A number of years ago I was quite concerned about one of my sons. I had shared this with my spiritual director more than once. She finally said, “What would it be like to trust your son to God?” My reply was, “as arrogant as this sounds, God is not his mother!” I didn’t stay at this place though. I realized through that conversation that my son was a young man who had been taught well and given support, and now he had to make his own choices. Several years later things have worked out. The time God has in mind for things to unfold is not always our time. A steadfast heart helps us to look to God for confidence and guidance as we live our lives.
As we used to sing at camp:
Lead me Jesus, I will follow,
Down the dusty pathways all along the sea
Teach me Jesus to be loving, your disciple I will be.