Podcast Introduction

Our reading today is Genesis 12-15, and I’m calling the episode “Arrested Obedience”. We’ll be reading about Abram and the promise God made to him. We’ll do our “On This Day In Church History” segment.

Thoughts on Genesis 12

Joshua 24:2 tells us that Abram came from a family that lived on the other side of the Euphrates river and worshipped other gods. 

This place is identified as Ur of the Chalees in Genesis 11:28 and 31, Genesis 15:7 and Nehemiah 9:7. Acts 7:4 calls it the “land of the Chaldeans”. This is in the area of modern day Iraq. It was in the lower region of what was called the Fertile Crescent. It was a land of prosperity with a thriving civilization, and Abram’s father, Terah (TAIR-uh) seems to have been wealthy.

While Abram was still living in this land of prosperity, Acts 7:3 tells us that “God told him, ‘Leave your native land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.'”

We have to sort of piece the story together. In Genesis 11:31 we’re told that “One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.”

Here in Genesis 12:1 we are told, “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” And then we read the promise. 

But let’s stay here for a moment. 

Abram and his family are living the good life in Ur. He is from a family of idol worshippers. Maybe Abram is himself an idol worshiper. After all, he was raised in this culture. And God comes to him and says, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”

Then what happens? Abram heads out *with his wife and relatives*. What did God tell him? “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family…” So Abram only partially obeyed God’s command. 

And in Genesis 11:31, the detail that they were “headed for the land of Canaan” is included. So we know that they were traveling in the right direction. But what happened? Verse 31 continues, “…but they stopped at Haran and settled there.” Haran was not the land that God had called Abram to. Haran was only about halfway to Canaan. But they stopped there anyway. Why? We are not told. 

What we are told is that they stopped short of fully following God’s command. Abram was in a state of arrested obedience. He was in the process of going where God told him to go, but he stopped. Arrested obedience. It was not until Abram’s father, Terah died, and Abram was now seventy-five years old, that Abram and his household (including Lot), and all of his possessions left Haran and restarted his journey to Canaan. 

It’s interesting to note that the name Terah means “delay”, and Haran means “barren”. Abram’s partial obedience caused delay and barrenness for Abram. God’s plan will always be accomplished, but our disobedience can be costly for us. 

Listen to Charles Spurgeon’s words, “The result of this to Abram was the absence of privilege. God spoke not to his servant in Haran: neither dream, nor vision, nor voice came to him in the place of hesitancy. The Lord loved him, but hid his face from him, and denied him the visits of his grace.”

And yet Abraham is known as a great man of faith. How can this be? How can a man who didn’t have enough faith to fully follow the Lord’s command be called a great man of faith?

Because one failure does not define us, beloved. And God’s grace looks at the heart. Yes, Abram got off the track, but he got back on. And as we read more of Abram’s life, we will see several times that his obedience is not perfect, but as God works with him, his faith grows. 

There used to be a bumper sticker that said, “Be patient. God isn’t finished with me yet.” Sort of trite, but it’s true. I can say with complete confidence that the faith I have today is not the same as the day I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was a sixteen year old boy. God uses our failures, the difficulties of life, and sometimes even our successes to teach us and grow our faith.

Don’t let a temporary setback defeat you, beloved. Ask God to forgive you, then get back on track. Today we read about Abram’s failure. Yesterday we read about Paul’s struggle with sin. It’s part of the human experience. All of us have to deal with sin. As long as it *is* a struggle, as long as you don’t give up, God is willing to forgive. After all, Jesus told Peter in Matthew 18 that we should forgive each other “seventy times seven” times, meaning as often as is necessary. If we are to forgive in that way, why would God limit the forgiveness He has for us?

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 12 GNT, Ch. 13-14 NASB, Ch. 15 NLT

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The Team

Transcript Correction: Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Denise
Podcasting 2.0 Chapters: Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Sean of San Pedro and Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Michael Haner
Show Art: Lifespring Family Berean, Brother Scott Snider and Lifespring Family Berean Jason Paschall
Newsletter Publisher: Lifespring Family Berean, Sister Brittaney

Transcript

Transcript not corrected.