“Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.”
Genesis 12:1, NIV
God promised to bless Abraham, but Abraham would not receive all God had for him unless he claimed it by leaving everything—his familiar surroundings, his comfortable lifestyle, his old friends, his values, his job, his home, and even his family—and set out on a life of faith. God told him, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). Abraham did not know where God would lead, just that he was to follow. God’s command was clear. Abraham was to put God first in his life if he wanted to receive God’s blessing.
If Abraham obeyed God by putting Him first and by following His lead for the rest of his life, things would be dramatically different. He must have known that God was not just adding a weekend hobby or an additional commitment to an already busy life. God was describing a radical change!