ON THE VANGUARD

GET YOURSELF OUT
“The LORD had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.’”
Genesis 12:1

This week starts the Torah Parashah titled Lech Lecha, which is translated from the Hebrew as “Get Yourself Out”. It was these words that God spoke to Abram when He asked him to leave his family and life in the land of Ur of the Chaldeans. There are times in life when God gives us a simple command. Since we have been given freewill, God cannot perform the command for us. It comes down to us and whether we will obey or not. For Abram, just such a simple command was given. Genesis 12:1 tells us that God gave Abram the command to get out of the country he was currently residing in. He was to get away from the land and away from his relatives and travel to a land that would be shown to him. The blessing of a great nation was given to him at this same time, but everything hinged on Abram’s obedience. In Genesis 12:4 we read that Abram did obey and got himself out.
I cannot help but wonder how many times God has given me simple commands. Too many times I find myself stuck on the big ones and trying to work out ways around His will that I honestly ignore the simple ones. But where is the faith that Abram had? I am not quite sure I have that faith, or at least walk in that faith like I should. Abram heard the command to get out, obeyed, and left. I hear the command and then what? I hear the command to stop sinning, to watch my speech, to be a reflection of God in all my actions, but do I obey? Am I a follower of Him only when it is convenient?
As I continue to grow in my relationship with God, I want to also grow in the speed in which I obey. In only the space of four verses Abram went from receiving the command to moving out in the mission given. I want to stop asking questions and stop trying to find a way around what I am being asked to do and just do it. If He says to get myself out, I want to get myself out. The blessing for doing His will is just an obedient step away.
Let’s just be honest, though, and call sin, sin. Are you surfing the internet, flat out viewing pornography? Are you hiding things or lying to your spouse? Is your mouth dripping with toxic waste, spewing demeaning words or curses in every sentence? Can you honestly say that in every command God has given you that you have fully obeyed? I cannot. But in seeing this command given to Abram so bluntly, so simply, so pointedly, my eyes are opened. I know what and where He is asking me to leave. The land of my sin is my land of Ur. And this land that I have been living in is the land God is calling me to leave behind. But I must ask what about you? What and where do you need to get out from? Do you also see yourself living in Ur? Friends, we like Abram have been given the command of Lech Lecha. Let us get out of our Ur and walk into the land of Canaan, where His life and His blessing become our inheritance.