Genesis 12:1-9
When we feel comfortable somewhere—we know the layout of the place, the character of the people, the dependency of the routines—it’s hard to think about leaving. But movement happens throughout our lives. We move from childhood to adolescence to young adulthood to middle age to our elderly years. We move from being dependent on adults to care for us to being independent and responsible to care for ourselves. We move from one living space to another. We move from school to school, from job to job, from relationship to relationship, from viewpoint to viewpoint.
Movement characterizes our lives. Our older daughter is a high school senior getting ready for her own movement into the next segment of life. This transition to college involves difficult decisions and painful goodbyes to what feels comfortable and safe. But it’s a movement she has to make.
Abram’s movement in our lesson text is clearly directed by God, who tells him not only to move from one home to another but to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house (v. 1) and set off for a strange new land. God doesn’t even identify this land at first, simply telling Abram to go “to the land that I will show you.”
We can imagine that Abram had some questions for God, but the text doesn’t record them. We simply read that “Abram went, as the LORD had told him” (v. 4). The rest of the lesson text details the stages of the journey Abram took with his household until he finally comes to the spot where God says, “To your offspring I will give this land” (v. 7).
Sometimes our spiritual journeys are like Abram’s. God tells us to make a change, to do something new, and we step out into the unknown to see where God will take us. Other times the path is clearer and we know what to expect. Our lives are full of opportunities to move—to reconsider, to change, to grow, to learn. May we have the attitude of Abram when we hear God’s call to move. May we, like Abram, go as the Lord tells us.
Discussion
• What movements have you made in your life so far? How did they affect you?
• What advice would you give to someone who is undergoing some kind of transition, whether it involves changes in physical space or is more mental/emotional?
• How do you think Abram felt when God told him to leave everything he knew? What questions might he have had for God?
• Has God ever called you to make some kind of move? If so, what was it and what questions did you have for God? How did it turn out?
• Pray that God will give you the courage to answer God’s call the way Abram did—that when God calls you to go, you will go as the Lord tells you.
Kelley Land, a graduate of Mercer University, has been an assistant editor of Smyth & Helwys curriculum and books since 2001. In addition to this work, she is a freelance editor for other publishers and authors. She also regularly volunteers for Jay’s HOPE, a nonprofit serving families of children with cancer. Kelley enjoys spending time with her teenage daughters, Samantha and Natalie, her husband John, and the family’s two dachshund mix pups, Luke and Leia. She likes supporting community theater productions and is often found playing board games with a group of rowdy friends. She loves Marvel, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Doctor Who. And she writes middle grade and young adult fiction for the pure joy of it.
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