Daily Devotions – All the Families of the Earth

Daily Devotions – All the Families of the Earth

Photo by Trevor Cole on Unsplash

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

 

Genesis 12:1-9  (NIV)
The Call of Abram
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there. 6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring, I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on toward the hills 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 called on the name of the Lord. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

 

Have you ever been subjected to someone’s vacation photos… I mean… have you ever been lucky enough to get to see someone’s vacation photos?  When you’re not the one traveling to a new and exotic location, it can be a little tough to keep up with the details.  That’s often the feeling I get when I study Old Testament events.  It can be challenging to keep track of names and places!  Especially when God has a habit of changing names and sending people off to new places.  This week we will walk through the promises God made to our for-fathers in the faith: God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Watch for these names.  Take note of the places God sends them.  Where do they settle, camp and set up altars to honor God?  This is a history that stretches back thousands of years; our history with our God.  And our God speaks through this history and still speaks today.