Don't Die in Haran

I talk a lot about finding the will of God for our lives.  I also talk about how we need to respond to God’s call.  God’s will and God’s call are intertwined.  It’s one thing to be called, but it’s another thing to complete the call.  That’s what God’s will is all about – Completing the call!  Today, I want to post on our response to that call.

Genesis 11:31-32 (NKJV)
^11:31 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. ³² So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

Genesis 12:1-5 (NKJV)
^12:1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. ² I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." ⁴ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 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.

Stopping Short on the Way to the Will of God

We all know that God made a promise to Abraham and that he was called to God’s purpose.  God’s purpose was to bring about the redeemer that was promised in Genesis 3 – The one who would “bruise [Satan’s] head.”  God told him, “in you all the families of the world would be blessed.” 

The first part of God’s call was that he was called by God out of his father’s house.  Terah was a pagan.  He wasn’t a worshipper of the God of creation.  Actually, he was a part of Sumerian moon god worship.  That was the religion of the Chaldeans.  Ur was the home of that religion. 

Joshua 24:2NKJV

And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods.

In order for Abram to be a part of God’s purpose he would have to leave the religion of his father.  This is why God told him, “Get out of your country, and from your father’s house!”  God needed him to be separated to His purpose.

This is always the beginning of our calling.  We are always called out of false religion Mormonism, Taoism, Buddhism, even atheism. Atheism is a religion – the worship of man’s intellect.  In order to be separated to God’s use you have to leave behind the false gods.

That’s only the beginning, though, God has a purpose for you, salvation is only the beginning of purpose.  You’re not saved for your purposes; just so you can go to heaven.  You’re saved for God’s purposes – He has a plan.  What happens all too often, though, is that people get saved and then stop.  They don’t continue on to God’s purpose, they stop short – just like Terah.

It’s interesting as we read in our text in verse 31.  Terah left Ur.  He was headed toward Canaan.  Canaan was the place he was called to, but he stopped in Haran.  That word Haran means delay.  Terah delayed the call of God. 

How many of us are like Terah?  How many know that there’s a call on our lives, but have become satisfied with where we are?

“The church is big enough.”

“At least I’m on my way to Heaven.”

“Now is the time for what I want out of life.”

Maybe God has called you to preach, are you learning how to do that?  Maybe you’re called to be a pastor’s wife, but none of the guys with a calling are good-looking enough.  “I’ll delay until the handsome ones get saved.”  Maybe you’re called to the mission field but you’re not financially prepared for that.  Are you taking steps to get ready, or is that just what you say to delay the call?

It doesn’t say why Terah stopped short and didn’t go all the way to Canaan.  It only says he died in Haran.  He died delaying the call.  How would it be to stand before God, knowing that He called you Canaan and you stopped in Haran? 

God called Abram and gave him the promise.  If we’re unwilling to follow through on the call, God will find someone else that will respond.

Look at Esther’s story.  In her time there was a plot in place to murder all the Jews.  God needed someone to intervene for them and the call went to Esther through her uncle.

Esther 4:14 (NKJV)
^4:14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

What he is telling her is that there’s a calling on her life and if she falters; if she fails live that calling the God will bring relief and deliverance from somewhere else but she will die delaying.  Who knows if she has come into the kingdom for such a time as this.  Who knows if you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this.

The Faith of the Calling

Do you know that your calling requires you to have faith?  Faith has two components. 

The first is believing God; trusting God at His word; knowing that God will bring you to complete His plan, in spite of whatever circumstances you may face. Joseph was sold into slavery, falsely imprisoned for rape, yet God still brought him through to His ultimate purpose.  Joseph never lost his faith.

The second component is the action of faith, doing the things that prove that you believe, trust and know that God will deliver.  It’s one thing to believe but it’s another thing to actually step out in faith.  Our calling will aways require both components.

Abram hears from God, the God of the Bible, while he was living in Ur, no doubt, worshipping the gods of his father.  It’s amazing that he recognized God as the true God.  He had the faith that God would bring him to the promised land; that he would make his descendants number like the stars in the sky.  That’s the first component of faith.  The he followed God to a place he didn’t know; “a land that I will show you.”  That’s the second component of faith. 

1) “I hear your calling, and I believe you.  

2) “I’ll follow you even though I don’t know where we’re going.”  

God did deliver him into that promise.  Abram’s descendants did number as the stars in the sky, and they did take possession of the promised land.

What happens when we lose faith to complete the call?

Numbers 13:1-3 (NKJV)
^13:1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² "Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them." ³ So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

This is God using Moses to call these men.  He has a plan for them to spy out the land.  God wants to use them to encourage His people.  God wants to use the spies to inspire them.  It was going to take faith to win the promise.  They were going to be used to prepare the people for what they would face, but look at what happened:

Numbers 13:32-33 (NKJV)
^13:32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³ There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."

This isn’t a report of faith, is it? 

“This is the land that God had promised.  It’s a land of great abundance.  It’s all that God said it would be, but we couldn’t possibly beat the people that are already here.”

Numbers 14:4 (NKJV)
^14:4 So they said to one another, "Let us select a leader and return to Egypt."

God had called them to that place, but they didn’t enter in.  I’ve seen men whom I know we’re called fall apart at this same place.  They don’t have faith to move forward.  They can’t see how God can use them to complete His purpose. 

“Why will they listen to me?”

“How can I preach the Gospel there?”

“It’s a different culture…”, and they back away from the call.

In the case of our text, this lack of faith led directly to forty years in the desert.  The entire generation died delaying. Not a single one of those who lost faith set a foot into the promised land.

What happens to us if we step away from the calling on our lives?  Terah died in Haran.  Esther was told that she and her father’s house would perish, and the entire generation of Israel missed out on the promised land and perished in the wilderness.  If we back out on our calling, we may not miss out on heaven but we will miss out on the destiny that God has for us on earth.

The Blessing of Calling

 God called Abraham out of his country.  His calling was to begin the lineage of Jesus.

Luke 2:10-14 (NKJV)
^2:10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

This is the outcome of Abraham’s obedience.  The birth of Jesus, the savior and redeemer of all men.  In Abraham’s obedience the entire world was blessed.  Just as God had promised it would be in Genesis 12:3. 

We don’t know what God wants to do through us.  We don’t know where God’s plan will end up, but there is a calling on our lives.  God does have a purpose for your salvation.  It is expected that you will live it out.

The final thing I want to tell you is that there’s a promise linked to your obedience to that calling.  God’s promise and God’s destiny for you are linked to how you respond to that calling.