The Lord had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation... and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you..."
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him... Genesis 12:1-4
Abram was 75 when You gave him the word.
He and his wife were beyond
childbearing age, and she had been unable to conceive anyway, when You called them to parent a
great nation.
He trusted and pulled up
stakes and took his possessions and servants and accoutrements and went off because You told him to.
He left
familiarity, the established life he had built, and became a nomad. A stranger everywhere he went. And not just an anonymous hobo, but a wealthy stranger, a traveling city, with a huge entourage and herds
and flocks: a nomadic zoo, a traveling road show.
He couldn't slip in and out of a town or a country
unnoticed.
This move was a huge commitment for him and would
change his status, his life, everything he had built and gathered.
But he had had a clear message from You:
Abram, leave
your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will
show you...
You must have given him hints along the way. This must not have come entirely out of the
blue.
Then, there was no Israel. There were no chosen people. No
scripture. No prophecies to consult. He
was the first of the tribe. Plucked out of obscurity.
But he believed You.
Did he believe you earlier in life, in his formative years before
You said these things to him? Did he practice-believe? Work up to trust?
He had no earthly reason to expect anything. He was a senior, and may have felt
unblessed, unknown by the heavens, abandoned, because even with all his herds
and flocks, there was no son, no heir. He may have felt inadequate, unprospered, because offspring were
everything in those days. And the lack of a familial heir made all the herds, flocks, servants, and assets empty and hollow.
But did you speak into his ear time and again, in preparation, over the years? Test flights? Did he get an occasional little spasm of hearing a voice?
Abram.
Abram.
Wait for
it. Wait for it.
Was he like the character Tony in the movie West Side Story? Given an uncanny sense of expectancy which defied all known
natural patterns?
Could be..
Who knows..
There’s
something just out of reach
Down the
block on a beach
Under a
tree
I’ve got a
feeling there’s a miracle due
Gonna come
through
Coming to
me
Could it
be
Yes it
could
Something’s
comin’
Something
good
If I can
wait,
Something’s
comin’
I don't
know what it is
But it is
gonna be great.
--(from West Side Story)
So maybe, like Tony, Abram had a recurring sense of destiny that wouldn't leave him alone.
Do I have that?
Hmmm. Sometimes. Strangely, at 55, yes. Quirky. Fascinating.
No grand vision, really. Certainly not an Abraham thing (we have no children and I don't have delusions of grandeur).
Not a radically strong sense, nor unmistakable. Often I chalk it up to self-deception. But I have it nonetheless. A sense of expectancy. As though I have something to do
yet that I must prepare for.
Maybe we all do. Are we listening?
With a
click
With a
shock
Phone’ll
jingle
Door will
knock
Open the
latch...
