Genesis 12:1-9 (NRSV)
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Chapter 12Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. Verse 2I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. Verse 3I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
Verse 4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Verse 5Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan,
Verse 6Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Verse 7Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. Verse 8From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. Verse 9And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
Devotion
God tells Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred … I will make of you a great nation … by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves.” In a pretty amazing act of faith, Abraham “goes.” He is able to turn from everything that gives him security—ties to land and kindred. Such faith is possible because it is the promise of God that Abraham is turning to. In that promise God establishes a new family where people will bless one another.
Prayer
God of Abraham and Sarah, place that same faith in us. Give us strength to “go” when you call us from security to promise—to whatever family of blessing you might have in mind. Amen.