SO

Have you ever seen a moment when you knew, absolutely knew, what you were about to do because you believed you were shown the way conclusively?

Yeah, me neither. Not exactly.

Which brings me to one of my most intriguing moments in Scripture, and the most amazing thing begins with the little two letter word, SO.

Look at Genesis 12 sometime as you plot your course into the wind or with it.

It begins so innocently, just like all that God calls us to, I think. It begins, "The Lord had said to Abram, 'Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you."

Wow. Wonderful. Exciting. Gratifying.

And, uh. Notice what's not there. A destination. An itinerary. A compass. A wish list. Just "Leave" everything you've ever known and go where God WILL SHOW you.

Then the explosion of faith is summed in two letters.

The Bible reads, "SO Abram departed as the Lord had instructed..."

No questions. No moment of doubt. No fighting, arguing, demanding. Just 'leave' and 'so.'

What are we to make of this?

How many of us would leave behind everything that is familiar to us and just go without knowing our destination? The concept of family meant everything to a person living in the time of Abraham. In that time, family units were strongly knit; it was unusual for family members to live hundreds of miles apart from each other. In addition, we’re not told anything about the religious life of Abraham and his family prior to his calling.

The people of Ur and Haran were pagans who worshipped the ancient Babylonian pantheon of gods, in particular the moon god, Sin. Given that fact, it seems reasonable that Terah was a pagan idolater. There is no biblical evidence that the line of Shem (son of Noah and Abraham’s ancestor) were worshippers of the true God. Yet somehow, by God’s providence, Abraham knew and recognized the call of Yahweh, the LORD, and obeyed willingly, not hesitantly.

The question hanging in the air this morning is without any of those promises in such detail, but with much more of a knowledge (in theory) of the true living God, what are we willing to do? What are we willing to give up? What are we willing to fight for?

Where are we willing to go?

As the New Year dawns, perhaps those answers will become more clear to all of us.