| By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promised. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. |
| —Hebrews 11:9-10 |
I admire Abraham. Nowhere does Scripture say that Abraham decided to leave Haran in Mesopotamia for a new place to live. He didn’t decide to “retire” to a Mediterranean villa where he could put his feet up and enjoy his old age.
In Genesis 12, Scripture does tell us that God called Abraham and told him to leave his country, his people, and his family, in order to go to a land God would reveal to him. At the time, Abraham was seventy-five years old. He was well-established in Haran, with a large accumulation of possessions.
I admire Abraham. From the day he left Haran, he never had a permanent home again. As Genesis 18 describes:
“He lived in tents.”
I don’t know about you, but the older I’ve become, the more I want my “creature comforts.” Starting over, traveling in less than ideal conditions, living in a tent, just don’t appeal to me anymore.
Somewhere in the last year or two, in response to the specific physical location of my church, I formed the phrase, “Ever on the road—never home.”
We all crave stability and the comfort of home. Yet, too often we resemble the restless swallow of Psalm 84 that flits around looking for a place to have her young and often discovers that place near the altar of God’s house.
Yes, I admire Abraham. He obeyed God and set out in faith, not knowing where he was going. He did not have the provision of the Scriptures we have, the richness of the Psalms to encourage him, the stories of other heroes of faith we see described in the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post. God commended Abraham for a good reason.
When I don’t know where I’m going or how long the journey will be, I, too, need to follow in faith, regardless of my age. Moses, probably also an old man, penned Psalm 90 which begins:
“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.”
Moses also knew an old age full of wandering and trusting God.
The Apostle Peter knew what it meant to feel “Ever on the road—never home.” In his first letter, he referred to Christians in 1 Peter 2:11 as:
“… aliens and strangers in the world.”
Similarly, the old gospel song states:
I’m just a passing through.
My treasures are laid up
somewhere beyond the blue …
Even if we have a sense of home and stability in our lives, we must remember that God never meant us to completely settle here. We can rejoice that He has given us a real home, where some day we will all come to:
… a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
On that great day, we’ll never be “on the road again”!
