ESOCS Devotional 12 December 2023 – Answering God’s Call
MEMORY VERSE: “So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.” Genesis 12: 4
TEXT: GENESIS 12: 1 – 13 (KJV)
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
7 And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.
8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord.
9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.
11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
Our text reveals to us how the Lord called Abram to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house to a land where He will share him. The text also reveals all the promises The LORD made to him if he chooses to heed His call. All of us who have heard God’s call on our lives to repent and follow Jesus Christ also know the power of that moment in our lives, when we leave all to follow Christ. When God calls, things happen. In Abraham’s call, in this passage, we may know the pathway ahead in God’s call on our lives, whether it is a call to come to Him as His child, to come into a deeper relationship with Him as His disciple, or to, indeed, leave all and come and follow Him to a new place of service.
A divine calling is first birthed out of conviction. God miraculously does a work—either immediately or progressively—on a person’s heart, and that work propels the person into action. The call has come to signify the very moment a person knew God wanted him or her to minister and shepherd a flock. According to Reggie McNeal, “The call is a mystery. It begins and ends with God, but it loops through a very human individual. It is personal but bigger than the person. The call comes out of who we are as well as shaping who we are. It has both being and doing components…Those who describe themselves as called mean that they have made a commitment of life into God’s service, to be at his disposal, to be in his employ for the efforts of accomplishing his agenda.” It is important to know that each Christian, leadership title or not, has a specific calling on his or her life.
Our acceptance of that calling means that we say yes to God and fearlessly abandon anything that does not work toward his ends. We can answer the call of God with confidence, knowing that God does not waste anything. He uses every strength, weakness, heartache, success, relationship, and experience to shape our hearts, to draw us closer to him, and to equip us to fulfill our life’s calling. God created us for his work, has already prepared the work for us to do (Ephesians 2:9), and will glorify himself through the work of our hands (Matthew 5:16).
What I love about our passage is that God called Abram when he was a Gentile. While he was still apart from the one, true God, Abram was called to part from that way of life, to pilgrim in the new way that leads to the promise, our Lord Jesus Christ. That is what happens to all of us. God is calling you. How will you answer? Learn how your identity and confidence are tied to God’s presence in your life. God hasn’t called you because of who you are, but because of who HE is. This message helps you evaluate God’s calling on your life.
- The Lord has need of you, are you willing to answer His call and be a blessing to yourself and the people around you whose destiny are connected to yours? Act fast.
- Father, grant me boldness to answer the call to follow You that I will be able to accomplish Your mission in my life in Jesus name. Amen.
FURTHER READING: Genesis 43:1-15; John 6:1–15; Revelation 7: 1 – 6
ESOCS Devotional 12 December 2023
