God’s Guiding Word: Promise

June 1

Introduction

Genesis 12:1–9: The story of God’s people begins when God chooses Abram and tells him to go to a land that God will show him. Abram heeds God’s call and departs for Canaan with his wife and nephew and all his possessions.

Today’s Key Verse: Genesis 12:1a, 2b

The LORD said to Abram … “I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing.”

Reading 12 The Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country, your relatives, and your father’s home, and go to a land that I am going to show you. ² I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing.

³ I will bless those who bless you,
But I will curse those who curse you.
And through you I will bless all the nations.”

⁴ When Abram was seventy-five years old, he started out from Haran, as the Lord had told him to do; and Lot went with him. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the wealth and all the slaves they had acquired in Haran, and they started out for the land of Canaan.

When they arrived in Canaan, ⁶ Abram traveled through the land until he came to the sacred tree of Moreh, the holy place at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were still living in the land.) ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “This is the country that I am going to give to your descendants.” Then Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ After that, he moved on south to the hill country east of the city of Bethel and set up his camp between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There also he built an altar and worshiped the Lord. ⁹ Then he moved on from place to place, going toward the southern part of Canaan.

Reflect

Abram’s travels followed a main trade route between Mesopotamia, Canaan, and Egypt. What are your thoughts about Abram’s willingness to listen to God and leave his country? Have you ever had to relocate? If so, what were your thoughts at that time? What promises does God make to Abram (verses 2–3)?

Pray

When you call, O God, teach me to listen and to put my trust in you. Guide me this day so that all I do and say is in accord with your will. In your holy name, I pray. Amen.

Tomorrow’s Reading

Genesis 15:1–21: God establishes a covenant with Abram.