Full obedience

Read Genesis 12:5

After spending much of his life — perhaps from birth — in Ur of the Chaldeans, Abram was instructed by God to go to a place to be disclosed later. Sadly, he didn’t respond with complete obedience; he obeyed only in part. When he left Ur, Abram brought along his father, Terah, and his nephew Lot.

Abram moved in the general direction of Canaan — the land God had promised him — but he travelled no farther than Haran at first. The text doesn’t specify why they stopped there, but I have a theory. The moon god, Sin, whomAbram’sfamily worshipped, had two principle seats of worship: Ur of the Chaldeans and Haran. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine that Abram’s father, a lifelong devotee of the moon god, couldn’t tear himself away from the deity’s sanctuary in Haran. When Abram’s father decided to linger in Haran, Abram should have bade his father farewell and pressed on to Canaan.

Abram also allowed his nephew Lot to tag along, possibly because he viewed Lotas his potential heir, having no son of his own. As the story progresses, however, Lot proves to be an even greater distraction than Abram’s father. Life-threatening, in fact.

If you know what God wants you to do, obedience isn’t complicated. It may be difficult, but it’s not complicated. Don’t wait any longer for all the details to be worked out. The Lord has given you an opportunity to grow in faith. He wants you to trust in His faithful care and rest in His unfaltering power. The time to obey has come. Now ... go!

REFLECT

Is there something you know God has called you to do but you’re responding with halfhearted obedience? What’s one step you can take today toward full obedience?

You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. — Deuteronomy 6:5-6

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