“When we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving-kindness and truth” (Psalm 25:10 TLB). Nearly thirty-five years ago, a friend gave us a picture of a little wooden church set in the Hill Country of Texas, surrounded by bluebonnets. This verse adorns the print, reminding me daily of the promises which accrue to those who are obedient.
“So Abram went . . .” God told Abram to go, and he went. But he did not go alone. Our obedience or disobedience inevitably affects the lives of others. Achan cost many Israelites their lives when he chose to disobey God (Joshua 7). Sarai and Lot joined Abram as he answered God’s call. The narrator tells us that Abram was seventy-five when he set out. We are not too old to obey God. Nor are we too young. Abram left nothing behind in Harran. He headed to Canaan taking his people and his possessions.
Moves are different from vacations. We can go on a vacation and soon return. Abram and his kin lived in Harran long enough to make memories. They buried Abram’s father, Terah there. They left it all for the sake of the call. In our narthex/commons area, a new friend confided in me: “We left everything in Afghanistan.” I lamented the loss of his things as he exited his country. Seeing that I did not understand, he told me, “We left Islam in Afghanistan.” He recounted how the religion of his ancestors had failed him and his family.
Although Abram had been born into a polytheistic culture, he willingly left his former pantheon of deities behind when he followed the one true God. Leaving religion and relatives, Abram never returned. When a would-be disciple offered to follow Jesus after he closed shop where he was, Jesus told him that a farmer who begins to plow must never look back (Luke 9:61-62). As we decide today whether we will obey (and I hope we will obey), we know this for sure: “When we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving-kindness and truth.” Blessings accrue when we obey.
