MONDAY May 19th
Genesis 12:6
‘Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At the time the Canaanites were in the land’.
Well, since we left the story of Noah, a lot has happened. His sons had had their own children and the survivors of the ark, just 8 of them had multiplied into many clans and nations, the story of the tower of Babel has taken place and the genealogies have taken us through to a man called Abram.
The verses of Genesis 12:1-3, are some of my favourite verses because they speak of a future hope for mankind, but also because they are a very clear reminder and have always been a challenge in my life for the need to be obedient to the call of God upon our lives. Imagine the instruction given to Abram, to go from your country and your father’s house to a destination that wouldn’t be revealed to him until later, and Abram obeys. Hebrews 11:8 says ‘By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.’
He set out, he left the comfortable life that he was enjoying, to go on an adventure with God! Now, he didn’t go alone, he took quite a lot with him, see Genesis 12:5 and as they journeyed, they came to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. Now this must have been a significant place for it to be so specific, both Shechem and the oak of Moreh, and it was, because this was going to be the land that God was going to give to Abram’s offspring. And so, Abram built an altar there. But the land that was going to be given to Abram’s offspring was far bigger than just Shechem and it was going to contain more than an oak tree for we see later in Exodus 3 that it was going to be a land that was a good land, and a broad land, a land that was flowing with milk and honey.
What if Abram had just settled at Shechem and the oak at Moreh, thinking that that was all there was. But no, he continued to call upon the Lord and to journey on in the purpose of God. He journeyed on verse 9 says still going toward the Negeb.
May God cause us to be like Abram, not to settle where we are as if we have reached the place that we think is our final destiny, but always be calling out to the Lord, to be hearing his voice, to be discovering his ongoing will and purpose both for our lives individually and also collectively as a Church so that we can move into the bountiful provision that God has prepared for us. Let’s not settle at an oak tree but move on to the bountiful supply of milk and honey, which we will only reach if we move forward.
In the following verses Abram was confronted with challenging times, a famine in the land, which took him down to Egypt, and even as he made his way back to Negeb, he had to fight many battles, both of his own making and as a result of others, but he pursued his journey with God and guess what when we get to Genesis 13:18 we read that he settled at a place called Hebron, and what is more whereas at Moreh there was only an oak tree that is singular, at Hebron it says that he settled by the oaks of Mamre, notice it is plural! He could have settled for the one oak, which I want to consider as symbolic as a blessing, but no, God had more oaks ready for him, more blessings. Let’s move forward from the blessing of the past into the blessings that God has prepared for us in the future.