I went down a road tonight that I travel numerous times daily from my home. With all the rain we've had the last few days the road has flooded and it was closed. This is by itself, given my lack of patience, a huge source of frustration for me. What was worse was they didn't mark it before you turned to go down the road, you turned ,went some distance --only to find out you have to turn around go back and find another way. I stopped my vehicle at the barricade thinking about what I should do. Cursing the situation was not helping. The thought of going around and trying to go through in my 4 wheel drive truck even crossed my mind because I was ddetermined to get to my destination. As I made my turn around I grumbled about how the closure should have been marked before you went down the road. This delay as well as the detour really agitates me. Then the Lord used that moment to speak to me.
He reminded me of the roads I have chosen at times in my life that have only brought me to have to stop--turn around and find another way. He reminded me of the delays and detours that have frustrated His purposes being fulfilled in my life. I know in the Sovereign Reign of God His ultimate purpose will be accomplished in my life. I know that even detours are just that--detours. It does not mean you are not going to get where you were going--your just going to get there some other way.
And then there are delays. No one likes delays. In American culture we are now the microwave generation. Think about it, a cross country journey used to takes weeks. Now it is only a matter of a few hours on a jumbo jet. Yet we grumble about a twenty minute flight delay. Think about communication. Not too long ago our best form of long distance communication was a "pony" on an "express". Then the telegraph and soon to follow a telephone. I remember when a phone call took minutes with a rotary dial phone and a long distance call that always required an operator. Today, with our cellular generation, my call travels from my phone to a satellite miles up in the atmosphere and back down to earth ANYWHERE practically in the world in a matter of seconds! If my call gets dropped, my how we complain that we have to take a few seconds and do it all over again.
In the kitchen, meals that used to take hours to prepare now literally take only minutes. We can go through a drive-thru and in a few minutes pick up a entire meal for the whole family. Modern times have made us the "instant generation". Instant results are mandatory for contemporary culture. For most of these things I am personally grateful, but for the present day mindset they have brought us to--I am not. To us delays are an inconvenience, to God they are simply a part of the process--even a part of His will.
I want to encourage you that delays--like detours--do not mean you are not going to get where your supposed to be. It just means it's going to take a little longer. Do not let our American mindset get us derailed at the onset of delay, Realize that God has a building program in delays--a character building program. But also realize satan has a program in delays.
Remember Terah--Abraham's father. We all know Abraham and his significance in the program of God, but Terah received the call to "go to another land" and receive a new identity as the covenant people of God alongside of Abraham. Except why don't we ever hear about him? If Abraham is the "father" of faith, why isn't Terah the "grandfather" of faith? When we come to know Abraham in Genesis 12 he is travelling alone with the exception of his nephew Lot. But when he got the call to leave Ur of the Chaldees, he left with his WHOLE family, including his father, brother, and all the children.
I read in Genesis 12:1 where God spoke to Abraham and it syas, "And the Lord had said..." In other words in was written in a past tense. God had previously spoken and He was now re-issuing his spoken word. When He originally spoke it, it came in the context of the ENTIRE family. In Genesis 11, the Bible identifies the family as Terah, Nahor and Haran--Abrham's brothers, and Lot--Haran's son-Abraham's nephew. Unfortunately we read how Haran died in his father's arms before they left Ur. So, Terah, Nahor, Lot, and Abraham, and all their families left for Canaan to find their destiny in God's eternal promise.
But hidden away in Genesis 11 is a very powerful truth that you need to get a hold of. It says in verse 31, "and THEY went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there....and Terah died in Haran."
Haran in Hebrew means "mountaineer". Amazingly this town bears the same name as Terah's son. We don't know anything about Haran from Scripture, but names say alot about the individuals that bear them. For example, Jacob means "deceiver" and we know what he was in his character before his encounter witrh God. Haran was a mountain climber, in fact, this journey they were on would have been his joy and delight. But circumstances being what they were he never got to make the trip. But his father brought him in his heart, in fac,t no one knows how deeply Terah's grief was over his son's loss but Terah himself. Painful experiences have a way of resonating deep in our hearts and lodging there for a long, long time.
We can carry the residue of those painful hurts in a hidden place masked by smiles and thoughts of denial. A divorce, a death, a betrayal, an abuse of some sort and we are indelibly marked for life unbeknownst even to ourselves. We pronounce I am over it, it doersn't bother me, I am o.k.. But unhealed wounds, unresolved issues will always eventually have to be faced. In fact, God in His infinite mercy has detours and delays DESIGNED for this very purpose.
I personally believe God brought Terah to Haran for this express purpose. He had some unresloved issues over the death of his son--who wouldn't. When they came to Haran the Scripture says they "dwelt" there. This was not their destination, but it was a part of the trip necesarry for Terah to get this dealt with in order to get on with the future. The truth is that it is impossible to reach for tommorrow while your holding onto the past. A past hurt, a past disappointment, a past loss can and will come, it may even "delay" you but listen beloved--God has brought you there to HEAL you and set you FREE from your past so you can embrace your future.
Do you know what Terah means in the Hebrew? It literally means DELAY! Delays are inevitable as we have to deal with issues in our lives. BUT! Delays are meant to bring healing and deliverance. But if you are not careful dealys CAN be deadly. If you do NOT receive the healing balm of GILEAD and by the grace and power of God get delivered from your hurt, you could quite possibly get "stuck". How many people, like Terah, have come to "Haran" the place where they should be climbing mountains, but they are stuck--and can't seem to get up the mountain to get to God's purpose for them. Scripture says of Terah that he never got past Haran. It says sadly, "he died there."
Beloved let me encourage you to "get up" and "get out!" God came to Abraham and said exactly that. His father was stuck, but he could not let his father's hurt be his own demise. He left his father in Haran, and after a delay went to God's promise for him. I have been "stuck" in so many ways in my own life. I have "dwelt" (to make a home), where I had no business dwelling, but I tell you it is imperative that we GET UP! And get on with our destiny. Detours and delays--they are a part of the journey, but they are not our DESTINATION! They are just places along the road we must cross to GET WHERE WE ARE GOING!
Are you stuck? Are you experiencing a delay? Have you found yourself being detoured? You are not in a BAD place--you are right where the Father wants you. Allow the Holy Spirit to heal your hurts, to give you closure to your wounds, to grant you strength to let go of your past--so you can EMBRACE your future. God bless you and GET UP AND GET OUT!
I read in Genesis 12:1 where God spoke to Abraham and it syas, "And the Lord had said..." In other words in was written in a past tense. God had previously spoken and He was now re-issuing his spoken word. When He originally spoke it, it came in the context of the ENTIRE family. In Genesis 11, the Bible identifies the family as Terah, Nahor and Haran--Abrham's brothers, and Lot--Haran's son-Abraham's nephew. Unfortunately we read how Haran died in his father's arms before they left Ur. So, Terah, Nahor, Lot, and Abraham, and all their families left for Canaan to find their destiny in God's eternal promise.
But hidden away in Genesis 11 is a very powerful truth that you need to get a hold of. It says in verse 31, "and THEY went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there....and Terah died in Haran."
Haran in Hebrew means "mountaineer". Amazingly this town bears the same name as Terah's son. We don't know anything about Haran from Scripture, but names say alot about the individuals that bear them. For example, Jacob means "deceiver" and we know what he was in his character before his encounter witrh God. Haran was a mountain climber, in fact, this journey they were on would have been his joy and delight. But circumstances being what they were he never got to make the trip. But his father brought him in his heart, in fac,t no one knows how deeply Terah's grief was over his son's loss but Terah himself. Painful experiences have a way of resonating deep in our hearts and lodging there for a long, long time.
We can carry the residue of those painful hurts in a hidden place masked by smiles and thoughts of denial. A divorce, a death, a betrayal, an abuse of some sort and we are indelibly marked for life unbeknownst even to ourselves. We pronounce I am over it, it doersn't bother me, I am o.k.. But unhealed wounds, unresolved issues will always eventually have to be faced. In fact, God in His infinite mercy has detours and delays DESIGNED for this very purpose.
I personally believe God brought Terah to Haran for this express purpose. He had some unresloved issues over the death of his son--who wouldn't. When they came to Haran the Scripture says they "dwelt" there. This was not their destination, but it was a part of the trip necesarry for Terah to get this dealt with in order to get on with the future. The truth is that it is impossible to reach for tommorrow while your holding onto the past. A past hurt, a past disappointment, a past loss can and will come, it may even "delay" you but listen beloved--God has brought you there to HEAL you and set you FREE from your past so you can embrace your future.
Do you know what Terah means in the Hebrew? It literally means DELAY! Delays are inevitable as we have to deal with issues in our lives. BUT! Delays are meant to bring healing and deliverance. But if you are not careful dealys CAN be deadly. If you do NOT receive the healing balm of GILEAD and by the grace and power of God get delivered from your hurt, you could quite possibly get "stuck". How many people, like Terah, have come to "Haran" the place where they should be climbing mountains, but they are stuck--and can't seem to get up the mountain to get to God's purpose for them. Scripture says of Terah that he never got past Haran. It says sadly, "he died there."
Beloved let me encourage you to "get up" and "get out!" God came to Abraham and said exactly that. His father was stuck, but he could not let his father's hurt be his own demise. He left his father in Haran, and after a delay went to God's promise for him. I have been "stuck" in so many ways in my own life. I have "dwelt" (to make a home), where I had no business dwelling, but I tell you it is imperative that we GET UP! And get on with our destiny. Detours and delays--they are a part of the journey, but they are not our DESTINATION! They are just places along the road we must cross to GET WHERE WE ARE GOING!
Are you stuck? Are you experiencing a delay? Have you found yourself being detoured? You are not in a BAD place--you are right where the Father wants you. Allow the Holy Spirit to heal your hurts, to give you closure to your wounds, to grant you strength to let go of your past--so you can EMBRACE your future. God bless you and GET UP AND GET OUT!
Good stuff, Dad!
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