Walk and Talk with the Lord #5

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.(Genesis 12)

Abram, later renamed Abraham by the Lord, is a great study when it comes to walking and talking with the Lord.  When we are told here that the Lord said to Abram, we do not get the sense that all of a sudden out of nowhere God spoke; there was this ongoing relationship there of Abram walking and talking with God. But during this discussion, God says: "Get up and go." Abram obeys, and later finds himself at a crossroads in life. He allows Lot to take the pick of the land, then he listens as the Lord speaks again in Genesis 13:14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord. God speaks again and says arise and walk, to which Abram responds again and moves. There is this flow of life in walking and talking with God where sometimes we are walking and looking, but seem to be going nowhere, while others there is definite motion.  Listen to our next passage: Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” All of this walking and talking, 24 years later, the Lord says walk before me. That does not mean run ahead of God, but walk, knowing that God is watching you and watching over you.  This phrase comes to describe Abram and other men of faith: They walked before God. Walking before God - this life lived under His direction and care - is a direct result of walking and talking with God consistently, over time, day after day, year after year. If you haven't started it yet, there's no better time to begin. He's waiting to walk and talk.