Are we THERE yet?

Two men, two houses. One stayed. One left. What happened next? How do we know when we’re THERE?

In Genesis 12, we read the true account of Abram, later called Abraham.

Abram and his wife, Sarai, lived in the home of Terah, Abram’s father. We see a lot of sons and daughters living with their parents in our culture today, and sometimes even the spouses and children of our adult children.

Genesis 11 tells us that Abram moved with his father and his own wife, and they took Lot, Terah’s grandson and Abram’s nephew, with them. We then see that Terah lived out his life in Haran.

Moving again? Abram was 75 years old at the time the Lord told him to move. Genesis 12:1 says:

“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.”

Can you imagine that in our western culture? He was 75 years old, his wife was a bit younger, but she had borne no children. Abram’s stay in his family environment had been for 75 years. (Think about this, ladies. Sarai lived with in-laws for 7 and a half decades. In our culture that was reason enough not to get “with child”.) Their nephew, Lot, was as close as they had to a son.

And then, God said, “Get out of there, away from your family and away fro your father’s house and I will show you where to go. I will make you a great nation.” God promised to bless him, to make his name great,and to bless all the families of the earth in Abram.

I’m speculating on several things here. I admit that freely, and I’m also doing it from a perspective of thousands of years later, from a different culture, and with different family dynamics. King Solomon said there’s nothing new under the son, the writer in the New Testament says nothing comes on us that is not common to man, so I gather that the foibles of humanity haven’t changed much.

Did God tell Abram to leave his father’s house because that’s where all the traditions and limitations in his thinking were? Terah was 70 when he fathered children, and now the family was seeing Abram older than that and childless. Did the “less than” for Abram and Sarai kick in because they had no children? We know that God had to change their names after they had been moved out before the promise of the child came. (They just weren’t THERE yet when it came to the promise. They had gotten used to the circumstances and accepted that Lot was going to be as close as it got.)

Were Abraham and Sarah stuck in their natural thinking born out of their decades long, day to day lives so much that God couldn’t speak blessing to them until He got them away from what they had always seen, been, and heard? “Leave your father’s house and your family” was God’s answer for them to become whom He purposed for them to be.

is it possible that we may need to make changes, step out and walk away from the way things have always been in order for God to bring His plans for us to pass? Is it possible that we’re not THERE yet?

Let’s look at the story of another man in another house. This account is out of the Word where Jesus gave an example of two sons. One son was dedicated to his father’s lifestyle. The other son wanted to fly the nest and visit the great unknown, but he wanted to take his “good life” with him in the form of an early inheritance. The father complied with the request. One son stayed; one son left.

I see this as a possible illustration of the church, Christ’s body. There are people who never miss a service and do all they are asked to do. They never experience the life of sin again, and are faithful to what they know to do and they continue to live in their Father’s house, but they aren’t the only people “in the church”.

There are some sons of God who have trouble living in their Father’s house, especially at first. Before they learn the benefits of sonship and the love and acceptance of their Father God, they get tempted to go back and see if there’s something they’ve missed, or they have problems that came in with them to their new house, their Father’s house. Sometimes these sons take their grace for salvation and use it as an “early inheritance” and go back out for a while. (They’re not THERE yet.) Their problems become overwhelming again and they come back. They are still sons, still loved, and the Father still runs to greet them and welcome them home. The Father is as kind to them as before they left.

And therein is the problem for some of the sons who’ve stayed, because they got so busy working for the Father that bitterness slipped in and stole their joy. They do not realize any longer that all the Father has is theirs and always has been, since the day of their rebirth. (They’re not THERE yet either.)

God’s faithfulness to His plan for us is steadfast. His love is never diminished. His kindness and compassion are strong in our need for grace. And we always need grace, because none of us, none of us, are “THERE” yet.

In the old covenant, God was with Abraham until he got “there” and there were a lot of distractions and messed up things along the way, but Abraham’s blessings have carried over to us and both Abraham (the father of many nations) and his wife, Sarah, are listed with the names of others who died in faith and whose lives are still important today.

In the new covenant, bought with the blood of Jesus Himself, sons are still sons, heirs to the promise. God doesn’t change. And He will be with us, guiding us along, while we endeavor to get there.

And when we do, we’ll see Him waiting to tell us, “Welcome to Your Father’s house”