Read Psalm 139:7-12

The LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you."
-Genesis 12:1 (NRSV)

WHEN my husband and I were married, I knew that we would be moving across the country. My husband's first assignment as a newly-graduated ensign in the Coast Guard was in Seattle. I had never been west of the Allegheny Mountains, and although I tried not to show it, I was afraid. I even thought, Does God live in Seattle?

When Abram and his family left the land of Ur to travel to Haran and then later to Canaan, surely similar thoughts occurred to him. Even though the Lord was calling him to a new land, would the Lord be there? Does God live in Canaan? But Abram trusted the voice of God, who was both in Ur and in Canaan, the One who is always with us.

Clinging too tightly to our home and family of origin or the society in which we were reared may be a form of idolatry. We may identify God so much with our familiar surroundings that we cannot hear God calling us forth to new places.

I am glad for that journey I made years ago and for the knowledge that God was with me during it and at the end of it.

Prayer:
O Lord, we thank you for your presence in our journeys and for the grace and faith you give to enable us to follow you. Amen.

Thought Of The Day: God is with us wherever we are called to go.

Prayer Focus: Those fearful of moving to a new home.

© copyright 2004, The Upper Room
P. O. Box 340004, Nashville, TN 37203-0004
Used by permission of the publisher.

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