We added eight new chickens to our flock a few weeks ago. So now, in addition to Blanche and Gladys, Thelma and Louise, and Mary and Carolyn, we welcome Sarah, Rahab, Rachel, Leah, Deborah, Jael, Lydia, and Priscilla! They’re all adorable of course and we’re smitten! After all, who can resist baby chicks?

When Rod first brought the chicks home, he placed them in a small area of the chicken pen that he had constructed for baby chicks. Of course, little chicks grow fast and soon the time came to move them to a larger area. But as he picked each one up to relocate them to their new more spacious home, the chicks would run and protest with loud peeps, squeaks, and squawks! They didn’t cooperate with Rod as he was moving them. They wanted to stay in familiar surroundings where they were comfortable.  They didn’t understand there was a better place for them.

I have to admit that sometimes I’m like those baby chicks. We can all be like baby chicks as we peep, squeak, and squawk when moved from what we know and like. When God moves us to the unfamiliar place or position we’re not always cooperative as we protest the whole journey!

In Genesis 12, God calls Abraham to leave from his home where he was comfortable and familiar and journey to a place that Hebrews 11:8 tells us he went “without knowing where he was going.” Abraham obeyed God and left his home and relatives as he trusted God to lead him. He trusted God’s promise for the “something better”.  Abraham’s something better was to be a great nation, personal blessings as well as be a blessing to others and a blessing to all the peoples of the earth through his descendant, Jesus Christ!

God calls us to leave the comfortable and familiar because He knows best. We need to be like Abraham and obey God even when we don’t know or understand all that He is implementing in our lives. He has something better; something that will bring us closer to Him, produce character in us more like His Son, Jesus Christ and will fulfill His purpose and plan for us. Blessings abound!

© 2019 Robin R King

Application: Is God asking me to step out of my comfort zone and move to a “new” place? Am I willing to obey or do I delay with questions and doubt? Do I trust God enough to go without knowing where I am going?

Genesis 12:1-9 (NLT)

The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. ² I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. ³ I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

⁴ So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. ⁵ He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, ⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.

⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord. ⁹ Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.

Hebrews 11:8-10 (NLT)

⁸ It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. ⁹ And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. ¹⁰ Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.