God Draws Near

The Invitation to Relationship

Genesis 12:1 (NIV)

The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

God has been inviting people into relationship with Him since the very beginning. And the invitation has remained the same. Forsake all else and grab hold of the Lord. This is the invitation presented to Abram. Get up and go from what is known and from what you depend on and grab ahold of the Lord. This is the same invitation echoed in the gospels. “Take up your cross and come follow me.” This is the invitation that is made to all of us.

The Abrahamic Covenant

Genesis 12:2–3 (NIV)

“I will make you into a great nation,

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.”

In response to the invitation, God enters into covenant with Abram as He does with each one of us. We are the same recipients of the covenant as Abram was.

God will make Abram into a great nation. This nation would be great in extent and importance.

God will bless Abram. This blessing means blessed of God. God would make Abram His blessed individual.

I will make your name great. God would make Abram’s name of greater importance than he ever could on his own.

God would make Abram a blessing. He would be a blessing because his relationship with God would serve as a blessing to all others as his relationship serves as a life giving example to all.

God will bless those who bless you. Likewise, God will curse whoever curses you. This speaks directly to the relationship that the Lord offers to all of His creation. God will honor and draw near to those who begin a relationship with the Lord through their relationship with God’s people.

All peoples on earth will be blessed through you. All people have been invited into this relationship with God through the victorious work of Christ on the cross.

Leaning In

Genesis 12:4–9 (NIV)

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

Notice Abram’s response is to continually draw near to the Lord. Shechem is the pass between mount Ebal and Gerizim. This has become known as the place of decision. Here the Israelites assembled to choose between blessing and cursing in Deuteronomy 11, Joshua would give his final charge to the new nation (Josh 24), and the nation would divide into two after the rule of Solomon (1 Kings 12).

God’s desired response to His invitation has always been to lean in. Place all of your faith, hope and trust upon the Lord and He will be your rock, your foundation and your steadfast footing in this world.