Leaving Home

GETTING STARTED

Have you ever wondered how your family came to America? There are so many places they may have come from—England, Holland, France, Spain, Mexico, Africa, China—the list is endless. Would your life have been different if they had stayed where they were and not come to a new land, or if they’d only traveled part of the way?

  • How did you get here? Do you know the story? Are there any interesting details?

READ THE WORD: GENESIS 11:27-32  (ESV)

27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DIGGING DEEPER

  1. Terah lived in what area of the Middle East? Who were his sons? What do you learn about each son?
  2. We are told the names of the wives of Abram and Nahor (vss. 29-30). What is different between the two wives? What do you notice from the details that are provided?
  3. Who left on the journey with Terah (vs. 31)? Where were they going, and where did they end up? Do you see any coincidences in the names (to what does the name “Haran” refer to in this passage)?
  4. Have you ever stopped short of a goal or a journey—either a literal journey or perhaps an emotional or spiritual one? Why?

RESPOND TO GOD

Terah left with the intention of going to the land of Canaan. For some reason, he stopped on the way and settled in Haran, short of the goal. Maybe he was tired; perhaps it was an area he was familiar with and Canaan was unknown territory. Ultimately, we are not told why they stopped and settled. What we do know is that God was working to get Abram to a new place.

  • Ask God to show you any time that you stopped or gave up (on a goal, a relationship, your spiritual life, an issue of purity or sin), and confess it to God.
  • Thank God for continuing to work in your life and for never giving up on you.