Genesis 13:17
There’s something God said to Abram that has stuck with me, primarily because I wasn’t sure what to do with it. That’s often the way Scripture works in us. It shapes us not because we understand a passage perfectly, but because we don’t and we can’t let it go. I haven’t been able to let this go. Here’s what God said: “Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you” (Genesis 13:17). God basically says, “Abram, get up and go on a hike. Walk from the northern tip of the land I’m giving you, all the way to the South; then, walk from the East all the way to the sea on the West.”
In case you’re wondering, if Abram actually did what God commanded, he would have walked over 500 miles. Do you imagine him step by step, over hills and through valleys, wondering why God would ask him to do that? I have to imagine that question was in the back of his mind.
But maybe you don’t really see a promise until you walk it. As I’ve thought about it, God wasn’t just giving Abram information; He was giving him vision. Rocks in his shoes and vistas in his memory would help carry the promise. God wanted Abram to feel the scope of what was being promised. To stand on ridges and look out over valleys and realize that it was all from the Lord. And maybe just as important, God wanted to settle something deep in Abram’s heart: In giving Lot the first choice, he didn’t lose anything.
That’s the tension, isn’t it? When you defer, when you choose peace over preference, when you let someone else go first, it can feel like loss. Like you’ve missed out. Like you’ve handed over something that could have been yours. But God met Abram in that space and essentially says, “Walk it out. See for yourself. Everything I promised is still yours.”
Abram’s walk becomes a kind of embodied reminder, in which every step reinforces the truth that God’s promises are bigger than his fears. Bigger than Lot’s choices. Bigger than any momentary loss. Maybe that’s what we need too; not just to hear God’s promises, but to walk them. To revisit them. To let them sink in over time, in real life, in real places.
Maybe this week, as you’re reminded of God’s promise in a real place, build an Ebenezer, an altar of celebration and remembrance. Embodying God promise will help you remember God’s faithfulness when it gets dark.
Ryan Paulson
Lead Pastor