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Monday 27 April 2009

Genesis 12:4,5

Abraham obeyed and followed God. As it says in Hebrews 11:8, Abraham obeyed even though he did not know where he was going. We do not need to know how everything will work out, the key is to have faith in God. We are following the living God, trusting in Him. Who He is is the basis for our confidence and the foundation on which we must build our lives. His cousin

Lot went with him. As subsequent events proved, Lot, unlike Abraham, was not full of faith. When we follow Christ, there will be some who come along, but do not have faith. Abraham left with his wife and all the possession he had accumulated. When Jesus sent out His disciples He told them to take very little (Matthew 10:9-11). There is a time to take little, and a time to take much. One key difference is that this was a permanent move on Abraham's part.

They arrived at Canaan. This was his final destination and he had left much in order to get there, but the true journey had only just begun. Sometimes we can make a decision to start on a new venture for God, or to take up some new position of responsibility in His kingdom. We can be tempted to think that that means we have made it, for we have made this great decision of faith or obedience to God. Or we can think the same of others if they make some such decision, eg going to some far off country as missionaries. The truth is that when we have made some such decision what we have done is put ourselves in the place where God can really start to get to work on us. This is what He would now do with Abraham.

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