If this is all there is to life…I’M TICKED!!! Part 2
I believe that the major reason that we do not receive from God as much as he intends for us is that there are things in the way blocking or preventing the reception of God’s blessing for our lives. Although there is always the obvious topic of sin separating us from accomplishing the divine purpose of God and receiving from him what his word has promised us, I have intentionally prefaced this blog with Part 1 to set up the much more subtle topic here in part 2 which is just as inhibiting.
This second address is one that many do not even realize is keeping them from living in the overflow that God has purposed for them…This topic is what I would refer to as “Relational Wounds”.
In Genesis Chapter 12 we see where God speaks to a childless man named Abram. God promises Abram that he is going to be the “Father of Many Nations” even though he was 75 years old and he and his wife were past their child bearing years.
Gen 12:1-3
12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
(from New International Version)
Abram follows the Lord’s command and leaves the place where he had lived for many years named Haran and set out for a land called Canaan which was the place that God wanted Abram to go so that he could bless him…and because he followed the instruction of the Lord, God blessed Abram with children and fulfilled his promise to him, making him great.
The bible repeatedly refers to Abram, whose name was later changed to Abraham, as being a great father of Faith. Throughout the bible God is many times referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…but I believe that God had originally intended this blessing to have gone to Abram’s father, Terah. Terah never reached the place that God intended for him because of a great relational wound.
(The following is more of an intellectual analysis…a hypothesis of sorts, considering the fact that there are only 6 scriptures written referring to Terah, Abrams father…Still, after breaking it down and considering the relational application of this story, I think that this is a possible practical assessment of this set of scriptures…if you don’t agree, that’s ok, but the more I contemplate this situation, the more I believe that the point here is one that should at least be considered)
If you look at the 6 scriptures leading up to Abrams call in Gen 12, you will see the account of his father, Terah.
Gen 11:27-32
27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth…
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
(from New International Version)
Terah’s youngest son, Haran, died prematurely for some reason. The fact that Terah suddenly decides to uproot the rest of the family and go to Canaan (the same place that God calls his son Abram to later in life) I believe denotes a calling from God. I believe that God probably spoke to Terah and told him to take his family to Canaan, or at the very least, lead him in this decision. However, between that place where the family lived (called Ur), and the place where God called them to go, (called Canaan), was a place called Haran…(Which was ALSO the name of Terah’s dead son).
Verse 31 says, when they came to Haran, they settled there…and then goes on to say, Terah died in Haran…
Haran was not the place that Terah had originally set out to go, he originally purposed to set out from Ur to go to Canaan, but when he reached the place named after, or possibly reminding him of his greatest relational wound (the death of his youngest son), he never went any further…Terah never reached Canaan because he settled in Haran, and died in Haran.
I believe that this example parallels the lives of many of Gods people who never reach the Greatness He has desired for them…God places in them a vision or calling to a place where he intends to make them GREAT, but somewhere along the way they are confronted with the memory of their Greatest Relational Wound…Maybe it was an issue of abuse, a divorce, a death, bitterness, an offense,…whatever it is, it becomes the eternal obstacle which keeps them from moving on to the place of promise for their lives and reaching the place where God intends to make them Great. Instead of confronting this wound of Haran and going through it, when confronted with it, they are again victimized by the memory of the wound and STOP…they settle there, many times even wallowing in the memory of the wound. Some become so used to living with the weight of the offense that they do not even know/remember what it is like to live without it…It actually becomes a permanent part of who they become and they never receive freedom from the bondage of this wound by directly addressing it, dealing with it, and moving through it as God would intend for them…
They stop and settle there in Haran, and many die in Haran, stopping short and never reaching the place of promise (Canaan) that God intended for them… I believe that God may have originally intended that the great heritage and reputation of Terah would have been referred to throughout the bible as “God was the God of Terah, Abraham, and Isaac” but because he settled short of God’s calling, Terah is only referred to in one short depiction saying basically that he lived and died short of God’s purpose for his life.
Then in Chapter 12 God calls Abram to the exact same place (Canaan) as he originally called his father Terah. Abram had the same relational wound as his father…Abram’s baby brother Haran died in an untimely manner. Abram could have continued to wallow in the memory of his Greatest Relational Wound (the loss of his brother), but instead, he confronted this wound, and went THROUGH it and on to Canaan where God fulfilled his promise to Abram.
Going through Haran was a prerequisite to reaching Canaan, it was an unavoidable place that existed between where he was and where he was going, but the way Abram handled the issue of Haran was different than how his father, Terah did. God told Abram to GET OUT OF THERE!!! and GO TO CANAAN…because he did, he inherited the promise that God had intended for him.
I believe that there is a place of Haran in the life of every person. A relational wound that confronts us and can keep us from the promises of God if we do not deal with it and work through it. It is my observation that a majority of people reach their place of “Haran” and do just like Terah did…They settle there, never making it to the promises of God…But for the few who reach that place and decide to go THROUGH it and GET OUT OF THERE!!!…There is Great Blessing to be had! There has to be an intentional letting go of that Haran wound. It doesn’t mean that you have to completely forget about the situation per se’, it’s not wrong to grieve before moving on, but you DO have to determine that the situation will no longer keep you from reaching the place of promise for your life…God’s word says that there are going to be battles to fight in life but you are an over comer because Christ is within you.
You’ve gotta let that thing go…You have to take responsibility for yourself reaching that place of promise and determine that you will not allow anything in your life to keep you from reaching Canaan…That is the place where God has called you, and has divine purpose for you! God wants to make you Great! “Good” is the enemy of Great! “Enough” is the enemy of Overflow! Don’t settle for “Good” when “Great” is what God has for you!
At least that’s my take on it…
This is a great book about living your best life…I would recommend that you read it if these issues above have been things that have been personal battles for you in you life
