Scripture Daily

Context No. 4098 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 11:27-32: in context

27Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot. 28Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees, while his father Terah was still alive. 29Abram and Nahor married wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, who was also the father of Iscah. 30Sarai was barren. She had no child. 31Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife. They went from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there. 32The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.

This short passage introduces Abraham's family, and it contains a small but telling detail. Terah, Abraham's father, took his family and set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but, we are told, when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah began the journey toward Canaan, the very land God would later give to Abraham, but he stopped partway and settled down in Haran, never completing the journey he had begun.

There is a quiet lesson in Terah's stopping short. He started out toward Canaan but got only partway before settling down; the journey that he began, it fell to his son Abraham to complete, leaving Haran at God's call to finish the journey to the promised land. It is possible to start toward something good, even toward God's purposes, and then to stop short, to settle down partway rather than pressing on to the destination. We can begin a journey of faith, or obedience, or growth, and then settle down comfortably somewhere short of where we were meant to go, mistaking a waypoint for the destination.

Have I started toward something good, even toward God's purposes, only to settle down comfortably partway like Terah in Haran, and will I press on to where God is leading rather than mistaking a waypoint for the destination?

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