Scripture: Genesis 12:1-4 (NRSV)
DEVOTIONAL:
Last year, my sister and her husband received a phone call on April Fools’ Day that turned their lives upside down. Fortunately it wasn’t a joke: the twin boys they sought to adopt had been born…almost two months early!
In that moment, like Abram, they needed to get over their fears, trust God and follow a path to an unknown place. They had to believe that where God was taking them was where they were supposed to go.
And yet, isn’t this approach to daily living so difficult? Our culture tells us to seek a comfortable life with little risk. We are supposed to set goals, make plans and stick to them. We play it safe by staying in places and with people that we know well. We all seem so awfully busy trying to just keep up that we don’t have much time for out-of-the-ordinary requests, surprises or spontaneity. And who has time to even listen for where the voice of God is calling us?
But what are we missing out on when we don’t? What are we missing by not venturing into the unknown? To name a few, we are missing opportunities to assist a stranded stranger, eat meals with a new immigrant family, help a sick neighbor and converse with our enemies. Ultimately, we are missing out on opportunities to become more human.
PRAYER
God, help me to become more human by slowing down, listening for your voice and allowing myself to be open to follow wherever it is that you are calling me to go today, even if that means having my life turned upside down.
Scripture: Genesis 12:1-4 (NRSV)
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.