Jan 29 - The Call of Abram

Read Genesis 11:27 - 12:3

Context: It is approximately 300 years after the great flood. People were living much longer at that time, and actually Shem, son of Noah, is actually still alive (he lived to be 500). Men have tried to build a tower to the heavens, but God confused their language and scattered them all over the earth. Genesis 11:10-26 is a genealogy that takes us from Shem to Terah.

Text:
27 This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go 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." (NIV)

taken from www.biblegateway.com

I love the story of Abram and Sarai. They appear to be 'normal' people, and they seem to make mistakes more often than they do things right. They give us a picture of faithfulness and righteousness that we can aspire to while at the same time they show that God doesn't expect us to be perfect.

Why did God choose Abram? Was he an especially devout child as he grew? Or was it that God knew what Abram could become given the right opportunities? Did God go to others first who ignored His blessing and challenge? God asks us all to step out of our comfort zones, and often there isn't any particular earthly reason why we seem to be selected. What is God calling you to do today?