”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.“
Separation has many connotations with sadness, heartache, loneliness and grief. However, when it is a separation that comes from God, its only connotation is consecration, which the root word likens to being set apart, separated for a purpose higher than the current circumstance.
Abraham was a son of Terah. The Hebrew word Terah means delay. In Kinyarwanda we have a saying “izina niryo muntu” to mean that one’s name has a lot to do in defining their character. The father of many nations needed a rebirth that could only be achieved through separation, that he may be taught of God and redeemed from the fate of his lineage.
We look so much upon his obedience that it overrides the cost of it. I presume Father Abraham had a lot to mourn, considering the older one gets, the harder it is to adapt to change. Yet he trusted the Lord who called him, reckoning that he would bandage those wounds and comfort his heart as its maker alone can (Job 5:18).
Child of God, before we ask to be used by Him, let us carry an understanding that what is already existing in our lives that was not His doing must be purged out that we may not be our own hindrances to the desire of serving Him worthily. The cost of consecration is to accept this separation and to carry the wisdom to discern when it is ordained by God.
The kind of separation intended to birth the character that stewards His purposes requires Him to start it and consequently finish it Himself . It is not to say that it is exempt of the natural pains and grief that accompany loss of any kind, those are simply a gentle reminder of our humanity, but it must not be apart from His sovereignty and faithfulness. Process it, in His presence.
Be of good courage, and see to it that you won’t attempt by any means to separate yourself or to bring yourself out before time.
Prayer: Father, I thank you for this word. The wisdom of God teaches us to be all things to all men and that demands a death to self. I cast down every imagination that does not honor you by the help of your spirit that your name may be glorified. Help me wax strong in character and strength to obey, in Jesus’ name. Amen!
CI.
