Day 305 Lech Lecha

 

11/1/2025

 "Now 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.'"

Genesis 12:1

 

I woke up very early this morning with a massive spinal headache. I usually try to force myself to remain up, take a couple of acetaminophen, if I must, and stick an ice pack at the base of my skull. This morning, however, the pain was so intense that I was forced to lie back down and remain very still. Being a particularly chilly morning, the ice pack was not comforting, but eventually I was able to relax and fall back asleep until the alarm sounded. I was pretty hard on myself for giving in to my flesh earlier and lying back down, but I doubt that I would have been able to focus clearly had I remained up, but not at'um!

Today being Sabbath I was anxious for the service with Jacob's Tent, as I've missed the first two messages with Pastor Bill for the new year that recently started. Today begins our study of Abraham, with whom God made a covenant that believers enjoy today, although I seriously doubt that many fully understand the significance of God's covenants and how Gentiles truly fit into the picture. Each day I am baffled at the ignorance in the modern day church, how much Biblical history has not been taught about our Judaeo-Christian belief system. Such a shame that even today, theological seminaries and colleges teach heresy when it comes to God's land and God giving the land to His chosen people of Israel. Each Monday since May the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) offers a webinar discussing the fallacy found in the church, as we discuss the Council of Nicaea from 1700 years ago, and the beginning of errant teaching of Replacement Theology and the birth and rise of antisemitism. These informational videos are available for anyone to watch on ICEJ's YouTube page.

Our Torah portion for today came from Genesis 12:1-17:27, and it is called "Lech Lecha" which translates to "Go for yourself." The Haftara or prophetic reading comes from Isaiah 40:27-41:16, and the Gospel portion John 8:51-58. Our Pastor Bill is an amazing and gifted story teller as he weaves the scripture portions together to form a comprehensive overview of scripture and how it relates to us today. So many people get the wrong idea that we're fixated on the five books of Moses, but we are being taught the whole counsel of God's beautiful Word for us today. And it answers every question asked if someone has the discernment and understanding to seek God with the whole heart and lean not to their own understanding. This is the mystery of God that Jesus spoke about using the Old Testament to reveal the veracity of the New Testament. God doesn't leave anything to chance.

In the very beginning God instructed Abraham to leave his father, his family, his homeland and go on a journey not knowing where the path may lead:

"Now the Lord 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. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" (Genesis 12:1-3)

Because of Abraham's faith and obedience to God, he is listed in Hebrews "hall of fame" scriptures:

"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. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God."                  (Hebrews 11:8-10)  

Hebrews 11:1 introduces the faith God honors: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Abraham was instructed by God to leave the familiar things associated with his life in a pagan country, to abandon connections, his heritage, or any associations that might impede his spiritual journey and growth. As we begin our walk of faith in Christ we are told that we follow the example of Christ by dying to ourselves, surrendering our new lives to Him and to His service, no longer a slave to our old flesh and sins. When we follow Christ in baptism we are following him in his death, burial, and resurrection to new life in Him, following His teachings, becoming salt and light to a world that desperately needs a Savior. In short, baptism is described as death to self, burial of our old sin nature, and resurrection to new life in Christ. By following God's instructions Abraham, then known as Abram, became the father of the Hebrew nation. It's interesting to note that Abram camped between Bethel and Ai (pronounced "eye") - Bethel means "the house of God." Ai means "ruins." By camping in between these two locations, it draws a careful thought about how we have the continual battle spiritually between God's best and our human desires that always war within us in our walk with the Lord. No one is perfect, except God, until we meet Him, we will have trials, but through Christ we overcome.

Looking at the teaching and applying it to my life, I can see more clearly that God has indeed had His hand on my life since very early childhood. We never will understand why such horrible things are allowed to happen to people, but we do acknowledge the bigger picture of the Lord. In looking at my own walk of obedience with the Lord, I have had to re-read accounts written in my journals that bring up many memories, mostly painful ones, but necessary as Holy Spirit is revealing to me things I did not understand back then, or had forgotten, and opening my eyes to see the meaning. Like Abraham I was asked to make a 2,000 mile journey in obedience to my husband who was running from something he did not want to deal with back then, and to date, he most likely has not put the matter to rest, hence his overwhelming thoughts of old age and the disability it might bring. It's sad to live confined to what could be rather than embracing all that God has for us each day. The move we made back then in 1987 was done clearly out of God's timing, and when we place our tents in Ai, following our fleshly desires, ignoring God's clear messages of caution, consequences will follow. These consequences did not only effect his life, but it also impacted mine and our children's lives. Today the pieces are slowly being meshed back together, but the process is slow because of the unwillingness to forgive.

As regards my life, however, I am beginning to see that although I failed at that time by walking in fear, rather than trusting wholly in God, I made a terrible mistake by trusting the wrong person. Women are prone to stupidity in most cases, but God had trained me better, and He had warned me early on before any of these things happened that ripped our family apart. I didn't understand then, because the word was hard, as were Jesus' warnings to the disciples, not believing we could slip, or misconceiving that we could be so noticed by the enemy that he would single us out. But Jesus said that the world hated Him, so it would hate us more. This is because when He ascended to God, back to His throne, He sent Holy Spirit to dwell inside of us to remind us of His training and the words He spoke, and so that He could intercede with Jesus and God the Father on our behalf. God never leaves us, never forsakes us. The problem is our wanting to "help" God, just as Abraham tried to do through Sarah's suggestion regarding Hagar, Sarah's maid. Look at the can of worms that opened that still plagues Israel today.

A closing thought about Abraham's obedience in following God's voice: Abraham believed what God said, and He left the comfort of all he once knew and struck out across the desert not knowing where it would lead. Thomas, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, however, would not believe Jesus had risen from the dead until he could actually see and touch His wounds. Isn't it much simpler just to trust Him, as He asks us to do?