Several days ago I read the story of Abraham being called by God to get out of Dodge (actually, Haran) and hit the road. I’ve read it the proverbial thousand times.

Something had been bothering me about the account for days, so I went back and read it again. Actually, I went back and read the part BEFORE that account:

This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living. Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.) But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children.

One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.

Do you know what strikes me here? Abraham’s dad, Terah, decides to up and move to Canaan. Canaan? Is there a strong sense of deja vu here? Isn’t this exactly what Abraham was told to do several years later?

He decides to leave everything behind, go to Canaan, but ends up stopping at Haran. The text says he “died while still in Haran.” That wasn’t the plan. Something changed, went wrong or was interrupted.

At that point his son gets a visit from God and is told to leave; and we happen to know where he is going.

Seems that God might have called Terah and he fell short. So he calls Abraham.

Interesting, no?

The take away here is that if you say “no” to God, he will find someone who will say “yes.” That person will be the one who receives the blessing.

Don’t die while still in Haran…