“And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he 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. So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.”

Genesis 12:8-9

If you had the chance to invite anyone to dinner, who would it be?

Sometimes while on the road I ask myself random questions like this. I find myself imagining what it would be like to sit down in a local diner with a guy like Abram. Sure people might stare at his threads and unkept facial hair, but I reckon he would probably be one of the most interesting and heartwarming guys to share a cup of Joe with. Think about it, the man that we’re reading about at the moment is one of the rare few throughout the history of mankind to have journeyed to the inner circle of friendship with God. I would love to listen to what went on in his heart and mind while becoming “God’s friend” as the bible refers to him. Most people through history have barely bothered to even acknowledge God much less be His friend. The story of Abram is such a pleasure to read, it stands as the detailed trailblazer of how to abide intimately with God. As I read the word and witness the life of guys like Abram play out, it only stokes the combustion of passion for the Lord in my own heart.

We saw Abram’s response to God’s promise in verse 7, now we see what follows after the reminders have been established and the worship has been given. Abrams life and family go south.

I’ve often experienced the same thing in my walk with the Lord, I hear God’s voice, everything seems so awesome and I’m worshipping Him, and not soon after I set a memorial of the moment to remind myself of God’s promise, my circumstances take an ugly turn south. I believe this is of the Lord; He will lead us through a turn for the worse in life only to test and approve our character.

Why?

Because our time here on earth is only a preparation and molding for eternity in heaven.

Starting in Ur, which is translated flame, Abram travels just under 200 miles from the northwest coast of the Persian Gulf. He then hikes it about 600 miles northwest to Haran, meaning Mountaineer or Mountain. From Haran he traveled another few hundred miles southwest to the land of Canaan, meaning lowland. Passing through Canaan Abram now pitches his tent between Bethel, translated House of God, and Ai, meaning ruin. Abram’s life has been a long road, He’s been through the fiery suffering of loss, climbed the mountains of disappointment where he first began to hear God, then “Passes through” the lowlands only to hear God speak more blessing, and now he’s dwelling between God’s house and utter Ruin. On our own travels towards a deeper relationship with the Lord I believe all of us hit these places along the way. Life sometimes gets a bit fiery as we set out from the familiar to the unknown areas of faith. Then we seem to climb up and over the mountains to draw close to God and hear His voice in our personal lives. As we grow, circumstances in life sometimes bring us low, leaving us smack between God’s house and the utter ruin of our old natural life.

Not only does God allow us to suffer in life for our own character growth and development, but He allows us to go through the fire to be a living testimony to those around us. As Christians people are always watching us to see if the God we believe in is real. They want proof, and the way we walk through life is God’s way of displaying His truth to them. When Abram went through the ringer, He didn’t cave in and complain, He took the opportunity to proclaim God’s goodness to all those around. He “called on the name of the Lord”. The Hebrew suggests a public proclamation; Abram was literally the first dude in the Bible to be known for street evangelism. Even though he had every reason to complain, even though he seemed like the only guy seeking the Lord in the grossly idolatrous culture of Canaan (Genesis 15:16), Abram chose to praise the Lord and proclaim the good news to everyone watching and listening. In the same way, Jesus had every reason to complain, He was perfectly righteous in a fallen world, He was mistreated and life was hard…but He chose instead to Praise His Father, and proclaim to all the good news of salvation…in fact He laid down His life so we might see and follow His example in our own difficult circumstances.

You see all of us are between Bethel and Ai on earth. We’re between the House of God and Ruin. Abe chose to give glory to God when it got tough…what about you? When given life’s lemons are you surrendering those lemons on the altar and allowing God to alter your lemons to lemonade? Or are you just gripping those lemons and complaining about your sour situation?

It’s your choice.

”I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Romans 12:1-2

“This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans…And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan…and Terah died in Haran.”

Genesis 11:27-32

As I read this passage I can’t help but notice how rough life was even for the guys and gals in the Bible.

Followed by the introduction of a dad (Terah), and his three sons (Abram, Nahor, and Haran), we go on a rollercoaster ride of news, rising high on emotion as Baby Lot is born to Haran, and then the devastating fall out of Haran’s death. I’m sure Terah was grieved over the fact his youngest died before him. Soon after these events the family is uprooted to a new place. While en route Terah dies, and Abram is thrust into the position of “Head of the Household”. Not only is Abram trying to pick up the pieces of a broken and grieving family, he’s also in a foreign land separated from everything he was once familiar with. To add insult to injury he discovers his wife cannot bear children, bringing the dilemma of not being able to continue the family name (which was a big deal in the ancient Middle East).

Abram was stuck in the territory of Haran, he had followed his father there in obedience and now he is in the place where God, his heavenly father, will begin to command and lead, and Abram will learn to follow his new father.

“Be still, and know that I am God”

Psalm 46:10

Sometimes I find myself forgetting the fact that these biblical heroes got run over by life just like you and I today. It’s encouraging to me to see that even with the difficult life that Abram had, in the end, God worked amazing things from hopeless situations. This gives me a bit of hope in my seeming hopeless situations.

Let’s be real, all of us have had times where it seemed like the whole world was falling apart on top of us, and we get buried alive under the rubble. I’m sure Abram wasn’t exactly stoked in the midst of his current difficulties. However, God had a plan, and He was going to use this broken life and family to establish peace, restoration, and salvation to the whole human race.

“It is only when our lives are hid with Christ in God that we learn how to be silent unto God, not silent about Him, but silent with the strong restful certainty that all is well, behind everything stands God, and the strength of the soul is that it knows it. There are no panics intellectual or moral. What a lot of panicky sparrows we are, the majority of us. We chatter and tweet under God’s eaves until we cannot hear His voice at all—until we learn the wonderful life and music of the Lord Jesus telling us that our heavenly Father is the God of the sparrows, and by the marvelous transformation of grace He can turn the sparrows into His nightingales that can sing through every night of sorrow. A sparrow cannot sing through a night of sorrow, and no soul can sing through a night of sorrow unless it has learned to be silent unto God –one look, one thought about my Father in heaven, and it is all right.”

-Oswald Chambers (If you will be perfect pg.91)

No matter what gnarly situation you might be facing today, remember that God is working the present difficulty together for His future glory… through you. (Romans 8:28) You are part of His plan, and believe it or not He is using you, and your situation, to prepare the way for the arrival of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus essentially takes the broken pieces and returns to us peace. (Jeremiah 29:11)

“I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. He has led me and made me walk in darkness and not in light…He has hedged me in so that I cannot get out; He has made my chain heavy. Even when I cry and shout, He has made me desolate. He has also broken my teeth with gravel, and covered me with ashes. You have moved my soul far from peace; I have forgotten prosperity…Through the Lords mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness…The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord…For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, Yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.”

-The Lament of the Prophet Jeremiah (Lamentations 3:1-32)