ESOCS Devotional 16 April 2024 – The Call
MEMORY VERSE: “The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”Genesis 12:1
TEXT: GENESIS 12:1-9
Now the Lord said to Abram,
“Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household
to the land that I will show you.
2 Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you,
and I will make your name great,
so that you will exemplify divine blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
but the one who treats you lightly I must curse,
so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you.”
4 So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) 5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)[v] 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. 9 Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional here
Today, we are beginning a new series exploring the life and faith of Abraham, our spiritual father. He is the first person in the Bible to be called “A friend of God”. Can you think of anything more wonderful than for Almighty God the Creator of the Universe to call you, His friend? Jesus said to His disciples, “You are my friends if you do what I tell you” (John 15:14). It really means the same thing. The Lord spoke to Abram in a very definite way. This was an unambiguous call. But this was not an easy call. Imagine being asked to leave your country, leave your family, leave your roots and start a new life… at the age of 75! Where to Lord? “Don’t worry, you don’t need to know that, I’ll show you…” Imagine if you’d lived in Virginia Water all your life and one day the Lord said, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household…?” What would you do?
Abram didn’t know where he was going – he just knew whom he was going with. Isn’t that true of us? Do we know what will happen in the future? God does. That is enough. So, Abram obeyed and took his family south into the land of Canaan down to Shechem. It’s never too late to start a new life. It’s never too late to begin again. It’s never too late to hear God’s call in your life. God calls us to follow Him without usually telling us where we are going so we have to trust Him.
Notice it was God who takes the initiative. Abram wasn’t looking for God. God was after Abram. God chose Abram, God called Abram. God has chosen you too. God has called you also. Hear God’s call and follow His lead, irrespective of your age, irrespective of your upbringing; and without knowing what the consequences will necessarily be. God knows what He is doing. That is the daily adventure of being a Christ follower. God has a plan for your life, just as significant as the plan He had for Abram. So, the first lesson is, Hear God’s call and follow His lead. Every man has a call and until you identify it, you may not be able to impact your generation.
- Have you found out your call in God, what He has called you to do?
- Lord, grant me the grace to identify my calling and work at it to your glory.
Further Reading: Genesis 6:5-end; 1 Corinthians 12:4-end; Luke 17:20-end
ESOCS Devotional 16 April 2024
