The delay of Abram’s blessing

What is delaying your blessing?

The exodus of Abram from Ur began with his father who had started the journey to Canaan many years earlier. It’s not clearly stated why Terah decided to leave his country and his other family members. But if we read Genesis 11:28 the bible says Haran, Terah’s son died in the presence of his father.We are not told how Haran died.  Was it trauma from seeing his son die that drove Terah to leave his homeland? What is your trauma telling you to do?

Haran is the place of rest which becomes too comfortable and hinders us to reach our destination. The name Haran was also the name of Terah’s son whom he lost in Ur. Terah found solace in the place that bore his son’s name. Where is Haran for you? Is it that job you wanted to work for a short time, a few summer months? Is it a habit that is stopping you from reaching your goal? What is side-tracking you from achieving your goal? Do you want to die in Haran like Terah did? 

Heritage

Terah had the same vision to move away from his relatives, his hometown but he didn’t finish his intended journey and settled in Haran. Sometimes it takes our children and grandchildren to finish the rest of our vision, our dream. We are not told if Terah got tired, got too old or whatever reason he had to abandon his first idea. We can only speculate that he went as far as he could go. However, Terah gave his son Abram a starting point, a point in the right direction. Can your children say the same? What is Canaan for you and what steps are you taking to make sure that even if you don’t get there, your sons and daughters will? What heritage do you plan to leave for your children?

Abram’s first call 

In dysfunctional families, moving away is the most safe, good thing you can do for your children. Families are not created equally. God had to wait until Terah died for Him to show the same vision to Abram. Yes, I know that the bible doesn’t state that Terah had a vision or heard God’s call like Abram did but the fact that he felt compelled to leave his kindred and household is a sort of a vision. 

Genesis 12:1 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.

The first calling of Abram, the verse above shows that Terah, Abram, Sarai and Lot were still in Mesopotamia. They had moved further from their family but were still within the borders of Mesopotamia. They had not crossed any borders yet. That’s how little Terah travelled from his kinsmen but also far enough for God to still believe that Abram could finish the journey. Is Haran not the same as the wandering wild that the Israelites went through during the exodus? The old generation had to die before they could reach the promised land. What are you going to leave for your children as the next generation? Because even though Terah didn’t arrive in Canaan, he got his son on the path

Society’s agreement

I ask; will you leave your kindred, your family and all that you know to answer the call of God? After all, you live in a world where we are told that family is everything. Yes, even the abusive ones; society demands blind loyalty from you. If you say you are leaving your family of origin, people give you rehearsed statements of half-truths because they don’t know your family. But to most, family is family, it doesn’t matter if they are causing you harm, mistreating you or abusing you. They demand that you stay till the day you die. To me, a loving family is everything but an abusive family is a giant thorn on your side.

Are you brave enough to walk away from your family? Are all families created equally? Because I know for a fact that that is not the case at all. Family scapegoating abuse is a real and damaging abuse to some or one family member but the world, the society is yet to catch on. Some people have never known love from their families. Some families are the barrier to your blessing. Too much drama, too much chaos. Does God not call us to leave Ur of the Chaldeans? How many of us will hear His voice when He does or do we remain loyal to that which never loved us? Is it not written that we are not to harden our hearts when we hear his voice as shown in the verse below? Do you want to do what is right in the eyes of men instead of God?

Hebrews 3:15 As has just been said: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.

Is your past lying to you?

Israel wandered the desert for 40 years until the next generation was born. The children who had no ties to the old, oppressive place of Egypt. They were able to move into the promised land because they were not bound by the romanticised oppressive mindset of the old system. Why do we, as humans, romanticise the rotten past? We have that situation in some parts of Africa right now, where people believe that the colonial times were better than the present times. In certain moments, it is true. But the truth remains that being set free is not as freeing as it should be. Because of our non-reliable memories. We don’t remember the truth for exactly what it was.

Isaiah 43:18-19 Forget the former things;do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!Now it springs up;do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

We cannot rely on our memories and that’s scary. Our brain rewrites history all the time. What is your brain rewriting right now? Did God free you from that you are still holding on to or romanticising? What abusive, scary situations or divorce did God free you from that you are now looking at with rose-tinted glasses? Was it really that wonderful? 

Family declarations and vows

Is your family holding onto anger, menace, misery, and even poverty? There are families where they declare that no one in that family is going to prosper and they mean it. They declare no daughter or son of this family is going to stay married. There are declarations made in all the family talks and if you are not aware, you will accept the vow, the declaration for yourself and your children. What are they saying in your Ur of the Chaldeans? Not all families build each other up.

Families are made differently and not all are positively supportive. There are families that are negatively supportive. Those are the ones that will support you to go the wrong direction in life. They turn up when you are doing good in your life and through their negativity, their bad outlook in life, you will start to fall back to the same routines and behaviours. Be aware, and honest with yourself about what kind of family you come from. The truth will set you free.

Leave Ur

There is a call from God to leave Ur, to leave our painful pasts, our bad habits and all that is destroying us. But are you listening? God separates his beloved, the ones he calls for duty, the ones he sets apart. They are to leave their country, families and backgrounds. It’s a biblical theme. Look at Abram, then at Jacob who had to leave his home and work for Laban for many years. Then look at Joseph who had to leave Canaan to go to Egypt to prepare for the years of hunger. Joseph did not go willingly but he went. Then you have David the shepherd, who had to leave his father’s house to live in the palace playing music for Saul but then had to run to the wilderness escaping Saul.

The wilderness is the in-between place, a purifying place and a period of transition. Before you answer your calling to ministry, there will be a time in the wilderness. Be prepared. But just because you are in Haran right now, doesn’t mean that you will not get to Canaan.

The inbetween places purge our past and rebuild us into new creations that can be instrumental in the kingdom of God. Are you doing the work while you are in between places?Are you seeing the errors of your past? Or you are bound to repeat them. When you get to Canaan, continue in the promise because your past will still be looking over your shoulder. It takes effort to move past the past. Our backgrounds shape us in more ways than we realize. But the other side is Lot’s story. Was he supposed to come along with Abram?

Remember that God said to Abram, leave all your family in Ur of the Chaldeans. Lot and Abram had to separate after coming together in the promised land because their servants started having problems. Together but separate works better sometimes. Lot was still a relative but was encouraged to live a life of independence. Are you encouraging your children to become independent? 

What have you attached yourself to?

Genesis 13:14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, "Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northwards and southwards and eastwards and westwards for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever".

The Lord had to wait for Lot to leave before showing in Abram’s vision again. This is the second calling of Abram. What do you keep bringing that is stopping your full blessing? Who is that man? Who is that woman you have so very attached yourself to that now God is waiting for you to separate from them before He shows you the next vision? 

Run to your blessing

It’s a hard look in the mirror but what is it that God told you to separate from many moons ago that you are still giving room in your heart? Are you willing to have painful relationships that God had already separated? Does that serve any good purpose? People have died holding on to people that God has separated from them. Find the gift in goodbye. Say goodbye to that crazy family member, to Haran, to the wilderness place and take your place at the table of your calling, your blessing.