Reading Genesis 12-15

So, they came to the land of Canaan.” Genesis 12:5

Today a line of scripture caught my eye and I decided to meditate on it a bit longer. It can be found in Genesis 12:5 – “Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So, they came to the land of Canaan.”

So, they came to the land of Canaan.

This is the line that struck me. Knowing the context of this scripture made me pause and think about this a bit more and as a result I feel there is something worth exploring here. If you read the prior chapter, chapter 11 of Genesis, you would notice in verses 31 and 32, that Abram’s father set out to go to Canaan too, but got to a place called Haran and dwelt there and died there. “And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. So, the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

So, the thought of the bible recording that Abram came to Canaan is no coincidence.

There are many who decide and start on a journey, a project, a mission, a plan, a course and never quite get to the destination. In the case of Terah, he came to a place called Haran on his way to Canaan and dwelt in Haran and eventually died in Haran.

Haran is an interesting place. Haran means ‘their mountain’. A mountain is an obstacle. A mountain can also be a task. Most people who achieve anything in life will at some point meet with obstacles and it is how the deal with these obstacles that will determine if they progress to success. We must learn how to climb over, go around or cut through the mountains and reach our destinations.

In the case of Terah, there might be something even bigger at work here. Terah had a son called Haran. Haran was the father of Lot and he died in Ur of Chaldeans. So Terah getting to Haran could have triggered the memory of his loss and maybe could not just get over that and lost his desire to continue to Canaan.

No one knows for sure what happened, but it is clear that he had set out to go to Canaan and when he got to Haran, he dwelt there and died there.

Sometimes our pain, our past, our disappointments, our failures could become obstacles and hinderances to our future and could become snares and traps to keep us rooted and fixed in one place and we can’t get over them. That’s why it is good to learn how to forgive our past and let go of them, so we can embrace our futures.

Like Paul we should try to let go of our past to lay hold of our futures.

¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have ^[d]apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

But Abram left Haran and journeyed till he got to Canaan. He must have learnt the lesson of his father. He got to Canaan. He overcame the mountains and obstacles and reached his goal. This year be determined no to let obstacles deter you. Not to let mountains stop you and certainly deal with your past hurts and failures and press on to your greater tomorrow.

Psalm 18:28-29

For You will light my lamp;
The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
²⁹ For by You I can ^[g]run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall.

Abram reached Canaan. You will also reach your destination in Jesus Mighty Name. Amen.

Let us pray: Father God, You are the God of all comforts and You are the God who gives strength to the weary and the weak. Please strengthen us today, so we are able to scale all walls of oppostion and obstacles to our destinies and goals this year. Help us to lean on Your mighty hand and be lifted to new heights above the mountains of opposition in Jesus name. We agree with each other today that we will reach our God-appointed destinations in Jesus name. Amen.