Daily Devotions
Genesis
"I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me." Psalm 13:6
Text: Genesis 12:1-20
TRAVERSING THE PROMISED LAND
Abram did not take the promise of God lightly. He traversed the land of Canaan. This was carefully noted.
“…So they came to the land of Canaan.
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem,
as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh…
And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel,
and he 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. So Abram journeyed, going on still
toward the South.”GENESIS 12:5, 6, 8-9
How should we read and understand the above text? What is the significance of Abram traveling all over Canaan?
1. The Human Factor
a) Natural to explore one’s promised inheritance
God had promised Abram the land of Canaan. It would be most unnatural not to explore the land that He had promised. It would be natural instinct to travel all over new land – especially when it was the promised land.
b) Natural to seek understanding and appreciation of the promised inheritance
Abram in his wisdom knew that he had to explore the land in order to understand and appreciate it. There would be mountainous regions. There would be rich verdant valleys. There would be a whole lot of variety of things to discover, to know and to appreciate. He couldn’t do any of these things without traveling around.
2. The Faith Factor
a) Abram’s faith in God would motivate him to explore the promised land
Faith in God was of paramount importance to Abram. He had left everything behind because of his desire to obey the Lord and the Word given to him. Faith must have motivated him to travel to Canaan. On reaching the Promised Land, faith would also lead him to explore further.
b) An important Commentary
We have a truly moving commentary of the faith of Abram in the Book of Hebrews concerning his faith at work.
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out
to the place which he would receive as an inheritance.
And he went out, not knowing where he was going.”HEBREWS 11:8
In faith, Abram erected another altar to the Lord and called on His Name.