Abraham experienced the pitfall of partial obedience. Stephen gives a succinct summary of the call of Abraham in his speech to the Jewish council. Acts 7: 2 This was Stephen’s reply: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. 3 God told him, ‘Leave your native land and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ 4 So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live. [1]
Instead of leaving his relatives, Abraham took his father, Terah, and his nephew, Lot. They only made it partway to the promised land as they stopped in Haran. These decisions would come back to haunt Abraham.
Wrong Place
Ur of the Chaldeans was the center of moon worship and other idolatry. The word “Ur” means flame.[2] Joshua commented on Abraham. Joshua 24:2 Long ago your ancestors, including Terah, the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they worshiped other gods.[3] For His reasons, God seems to have chosen Abraham to save him from the flames as He followed Him.
Scripture doesn’t tell us why they stopped short of the promised land. Haran was similar to Ur culturally and also a center of moon worship. Perhaps Terah had health issues, or this was as much change as he could handle. We don’t know how long the family stayed there. But it seems that once Terah died, Abraham could continue.
God had given Abraham instructions, but Abraham’s stop in Haran caused him to lose precious time following God’s call. There is nothing said about God speaking to Abraham in Haran. When we think God has stopped speaking, we often need to return to His last instructions. When we obey those instructions, we return to God’s path. We will see when Abraham arrives in the promised land, God again speaks.
Wrong People
We can see that Abraham’s inclusion of his father slowed his journey. Abraham also took his nephew Lot, which, as we will see in the coming weeks, will only cause problems. The people we surround ourselves with have significant influence. We don’t have the option to choose our family. God knew how Abraham’s family would hinder him and instructed him to leave them.
We have a choice in friends and must choose our friends wisely. 1 Corinthians 15:33bbad company corrupts good character.[4] God was calling Abraham to a new life, but Abraham brought some of the old with him. Warren Wiersbe gives great insight: “Whatever you bring with you from the old life into the new is likely to create problems.”[5] This is the pitfall of partial obedience. God gives His instructions to protect us; when we don’t follow them, we create problems for ourselves.
To learn more, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/called-to-a-promise
[1,3,4] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers.
[2] Strong, J. (1995). In Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
[5] Wiersbe, W. W. (1991). Be Obedient (p. 16). Victor Books.