Genesis 12:1-9
Abram
Yet
another covenant
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- 12:1
The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country,
your people and your father's household and go
to the land I will show you.
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2 "I will make you into
a great nation and I will bless you;
-
- I will make your name
great, and you will be a blessing.
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- 3 I will bless those
who bless you, and whoever curses you I will
curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed
through you."
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- 4 So Abram left, as
the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.
Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out
from Haran.
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- 5 He took his wife
Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they
had accumulated and the people they had acquired
in Haran, and they set out for the land of
Canaan, and they arrived there.
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- 6 Abram traveled
through the land as far as the site of the great
tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the
Canaanites were in the land.
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- 7 The LORD appeared to
Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give
this land." So he built an altar there to the
LORD, who had appeared to him.
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- 8 From there he went
on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched
his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the
east.
-
- There he built an
altar to the LORD and called on the name of the
LORD.
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- 9 Then Abram set out
and continued toward the Negev.
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to change
the way that we think, and the way that we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
The Covenant of
God and the Obedience of Abram
A quick note. Sometimes we
take for granted that everyone knows Abram later
becomes Abraham. But for those who don't, he
does.
Abram heard God call him to
pick up his belongings and move to another land; a
land of strangers if you will.
Verse four simply says "Abram
left" in a very matter-of-fact way. In fact his
leaving is almost a footnote in the
message.
But, this was no small
journey. By my loose calculations on the map, the
indirect route Abram followed (in order to avoid
the desert) took him somewhere between 600-800
miles. Quite a distance on foot.
Such a long journey but Abram
took it.
Why? Because God asked him
to.
You see, Abram had such faith
in God that he did not question when God gave
directions. He simply followed. He
obeyed.
God's covenant (promise) to
Abram was that he would start a new nation; a
nation which would become great: The nation of
Israel.
All God asked of Abram was
that he obey God and follow his plan and for this
Abram would receive an even greater
blessing.
From Abram's foundation and
descendants came Jesus Christ who was born to save
the world from sin. God saw into the future when He
asked Abram to travel to Canaan. Abram obeyed even
though it meant leaving everything he knew to
travel into unknown territory.
How about us? Are we able to
give up some of our comfort and security in order
to go where God is leading us?
If we are just willing to
obey God I'm sure He has a plan for you and me just
as He did with Abram.
Love in Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Verses from Genesis about the promise God
made to Abram are from Life Application Study
Bible: New International Version
Comments are welcome. Please email
me with any questions or comments you
may have.
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