The Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.”
God told Abram to do three things: (1) leave his country, (2) separate himself from his family, (3) and go to a land that God promised to show him. Abram followed through on the first requirement, but he failed to do the last two. He left Ur of the Chaldees, but instead of separating himself from his family, he took along Terah his father and Lot his nephew.
Terah means “delay.” Allowing his father to accompany him resulted in a delay of five years in Haran. Haran means “parched, dry place, extremely dry place.” Are you in a dry place spiritually? If you are, perhaps you have someone with you whom God told you to leave behind.
Abram delayed his own destiny because he took with him those whom God said not to take. He endured a five-year dry period in his life and never even made it to Canaan. He stopped and stayed in Haran until his father’s death finally broke the link that bound Abram to Haran. Only then did he enter Canaan.
Lot’s name means “covering or veil,” and it comes from a verb meaning “to wrap up.” Lot wrapped up and entangled Abraham in all kinds of problems. Abraham actually divided his inheritance to provide land for Lot (in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah). That was when he finally said to Lot what he should have said a lot earlier, “Please separate from me” (Gen. 13:9 NKJV).
Have kinfolk unintentionally or intentionally delayed and hindered your pursuit of God’s will? It is time to move on and separate yourself so you can do what God told you to do.1 It may not make sense, but you must enter Canaan.
Today’s Prayer:
Lord Jesus, I love You. You are my Life, my Light, and my Salvation. Grant me the grace, the courage, and the determination to obey You and separate myself from every hindering and delaying influence. Bless my family and give them the grace to see Your hand at work in my life. If, however, they refuse to see, I will still follow You.
