Genesis 12

Step out in faith

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. ~ Genesis 12:1

Some of the hardest times in life are transition seasons.  Those moments when your path shifts from the familiar and comfortable to the place of new and uncertain.  I have walked through many of those seasons, and some of the most stretching came when my children became adults and left home.

There was a quiet tension as each one stepped away from the security of the home they had always known, a place that felt safe, familiar, and steady. Each of them wrestled with the uncertainty of no clear destination, no set timeline, no detailed instructions.  They only had the quiet, steady prompting from the Lord saying it was time to go.

Genesis 12 shows us how Abram responded to that same kind of calling. God told him to leave everything familiar, his country, people, and father’s household and promised to lead him to an unknown land. Abram didn’t receive the full picture up front. He simply obeyed. That single step of obedience set into motion the entire plan of redemption through the generations. His faith not only changed his own life but it impacted the world.

You might be in a season where God is asking you to take a leap of faith. Maybe it’s starting something new, letting go of a routine, moving forward after disappointment, or following a call that doesn’t make sense on paper. Like Abram, your “yes” may not come with all the details, but it will come with God’s presence and promises.

Here are some practical ways to step out in faith in your life:

• Pray daily for clarity and courage. Ask God to show you just the next step, not the whole plan.
• Write down what God is asking of you. Putting it in writing brings focus and accountability.
• Take one step forward. Even if it’s small, movement in faith matters.
• Surround yourself with people who will support and pray for you. Abram didn’t go alone, he took his household with him.
• Hold God’s promises close. Verse 2 promises that God will bless and make a great nation through Abram. When the journey gets hard, go back to what He promised.

Today I want to encourage you to trust God with your “yes,” even when you don’t have all the answers. He’s not asking you to have the full blueprint, He’s asking you to believe that He is faithful. Just like Abram, your obedience can unlock something far greater than you can imagine. When you go where He leads, you never go alone.

Today’s scripture reading: Genesis 12

1 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 worshipped the Lord.

9 Then Abram continued traveling south by stages toward the Negev.

10 At that time a severe famine struck the land of Canaan, forcing Abram to go down to Egypt, where he lived as a foreigner.

11 As he was approaching the border of Egypt, Abram said to his wife, Sarai, “Look, you are a very beautiful woman.

12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’

13 So please tell them you are my sister. Then they will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.”

14 And sure enough, when Abram arrived in Egypt, everyone noticed Sarai’s beauty.

15 When the palace officials saw her, they sang her praises to Pharaoh, their king, and Sarai was taken into his palace.

16 Then Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of her—sheep, goats, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

17 But the Lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and accused him sharply. “What have you done to me?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife?

19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ and allow me to take her as my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and get out of here!”

20 Pharaoh ordered some of his men to escort them, and he sent Abram out of the country, along with his wife and all his possessions.

Journal:

• What is God asking me to step away from?
• What is the first step of obedience I can take this week toward what He is calling me to do?