Abram : Looks Forward to Foundations

Abram walked and walked to get to the new land God was giving him. When he reached this land God had promised, called Canaan, the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “Here it is! This is the land I will give your children and all the children after them.”

So Abram stopped and built an altar there to worship God.

So there Abram was — standing on the land God had promised would be his. But, as Abram looked around, he noticed something that some people might call a “problem.” There were still lots of other people living in this land of Canaan. And at this point, God wasn’t making those people leave.

Abram had packed up and left his old house and all the familiar people and places around him. And now… he didn’t have a house or a piece of land to call “his” or to call “home.” He was a stranger in a strange and foreign land.

But God was Blessing Abram, just as He had promised. Wherever Abram went, he was getting more and more animals and herds and tents.

But being traveling shepherds with more animals and herds and tents meant it got crowded at times. Lot’s herdsmen started to fight with Abram’s herdsmen because there wasn’t enough land and water for both of their flocks and herds. This fighting was not ok with Abram.

So, Abram told Lot, “Pick whatever land you want, and I’ll take whatever is leftover. If you pick the land in the east, then I’ll take west. Or if you take west, then I’ll take east.”

So Lot looked around and saw that one direction looked like a beautiful garden, so he picked that very best land for himself and left.

But Abram didn’t mind, he wasn’t going to be greedy about the land God had given him.

After Lot left, God said to Abram, “Hey Abram, now I want you to look around in every direction — to the north, south, east, and west. I’m going to give you and your children all the land that you see. It will all be yours forever.

“You are going to have so many children that they’ll be like all the sand on the seashore.” (Have you ever tried to count sand on the seashore? It’s a whole bunch!)

“Now, get up and walk around the land I will give to you,” God told him.

So Abram pulled, pulled, pulled up his tent pegs, packed up, and moved again.

Think about it…

What if God told you to pack up your stuff and move to a surprise place? Maybe you’d pack a sleeping bag and tent and start walking. Or these days maybe you’d pack a suitcase and go to the airport to get on a plane. Then once you get to the new home, you notice you are in a totally different country than where you started. You don’t know any of the people. Maybe you eat different foods than they do. Maybe you talk or dress differently than they do. That wouldn’t have the “comfy, snugly” feeling of being “at home,” would it? That can make you feel like a stranger… a foreigner.

But Abram didn’t miss that old home or old country he’d left. If he had, God would’ve given him the chance to go back to it. But he wasn’t really looking for a comfy house or a big piece of land. Instead, Abram was longing for a better home and a better country — a Heavenly one.

Abram was looking forward to a city with strong, solid, rock foundations. And, he wasn’t looking for a city that man would build, but a city whose architect and builder would be God.

Abram trusted and believed God even though he was only seeing God’s promises from a distance. Abram knew he was a foreigner and stranger on the earth. So, even though Abram had to keep move, move, moving his tents as a stranger in a strange, foreign place, Abram made his home in the land God promised — He just made his “home” as a traveler, knowing that one day the Promise for a real Home on a strong immovable Foundation would Happen!

When you believe God even though there seems to be a “gap” between what you see and what God said is true — that’s Faith! Keep watching with Heaven-Eyes and you’ll see that for Abram, that together with us everything will be Perfect.