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The Beginning of the End
ask questions concerning the land of promise—whether the soil was
fertile, the climate healthful. The happiest place on earth was the
place where God wanted him to be.
Many are still tested as Abraham was. They do not hear the
voice of God speaking directly from heaven, but He calls them by
[53]
the teachings of His Word and the events of His leading. They may
be required to abandon a career that promises wealth and honor and
to separate from family in order to start out on what appears to be a
path of self-denial and sacrifice. God has a work for them to do; the
influence of friends and family would hinder it.
Who is ready, at the call of God, to renounce cherished plans,
accept new duties, and enter unfamiliar fields? Those who will do
this have the faith of Abraham and will share with him that “far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (
2 Corinthians 4:17
.
See also
Romans 8:18
).
The call from heaven first came to Abraham in “Ur of the
Chaldeans,” and in obedience he moved to Haran. His father’s
family accompanied him this far and Abraham remained in Haran
until the death of Terah.
Into the Unknown
But after his father died the divine voice called him to go forward.
Besides Sarah, the wife of Abraham, only Lot chose to share the
pilgrim life. Abraham possessed large flocks and many servants. He
was never to return to his homeland, and he took all that he had with
him—“all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people
whom they had acquired in Haran.” In Haran both Abraham and
Sarah had led others to the worship of the true God. These went
with him to the land of promise, “the land of Canaan.”
The first place where they stayed was Shechem. Abraham made
his camp in a wide, grassy valley, with its olive groves and gush-
ing springs.. It was a beautiful and fertile country, “a land of
brooks of water, ... of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees
and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey” (
Deuteronomy
8:7, 8
). But a heavy shadow rested on the wooded hills and fruitful
plains—the altars of false gods were set up in the groves, and human
sacrifices were offered on nearby hills.