The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)
In Genesis 12, God calls Abram (later renamed Abraham by God) to leave the place where he had settled and go to the land that God promised to show him. God had a great big gift that He wanted to show Abram and He was inviting Abram to go with Him to see it. And even before they left God, with a choosing, self-giving love, gave Abram a promise.
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2, 3b)
Now Abram could have ignored God’s command, he could have chosen to not receive God’s blessing, but he didn’t. Abram trusted God. Abram trusted God enough to act on His command and Abram trusted God’s blessing enough to receive it, and Abram trusted God enough to remember His promise and count on Him to fulfill it, even though it didn’t happen in his lifetime. And so Abram went with God to the land of Canaan and there “The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’” (v. 7a). 
Imagine a birthday party where a young boy sits on a couch with birthday presents stacked all around him but he doesn’t open any of them. How could such a thing be even possible? Yet we do that all the time when we fail to go with God where He calls us to go.
God has great and wonderful gifts for you. Some of those are the same as the gifts that He wants to give to everyone: the gift of forgiveness, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of being united with Christ, the gift of new life that begins in our Baptism and continues into forever, the gift of being adopted into the family of God. Some of the gifts that God wants to give to you are specifically for you. The question is, will you go with God to see the gifts that He has for you?
It is faith in God that opens the gifts that God has for us. It is faith in God that moves us to act on His command to go and see what He has for us in the future. It is faith in God that moves us to receive His blessings. It is faith in God that moves us to remember God’s promises and count on Him to fulfill them even though we may not see it in this lifetime. And as we realize how much God has blessed us, we naturally want to go and be a blessing to others. There is no greater blessing that we can give to others than to shower them with God’s love for them. We are blessed to be a blessing, just like Abram.
Prayer: Dear God, if anything else besides You has captured my heart, please turn me away from those things. Increase my faith and help me to go with You wherever You call me to go. Give me the faith I need to open all the good and wonderful gifts that You have for me. Amen.
Farewell to Shadowlands 