Originally published Wednesday, 11 September 2013.
One day, the Eternal One called out to Abram.
Eternal One: Abram, get up and go! Leave your country. Leave your relatives and your father’s home, and travel to the land I will show you. Don’t worry—I will guide you there. I have plans to make a great people from your descendants. And I am going to put a special blessing on you and cause your reputation to grow so that you will become a blessing and example to others. Genesis 12:1-2 (VOICE)
“Lord, take me to the place of your greatest blessing.”
I read this prayer somewhere in my teens. Those 10 words resonated deep within my soul. They scared me a little bit.
I realized that speaking this prayer gave God permission to walk me up hills, through valleys, to show me sunrises and to hold me through dark nights.
If I wanted a comfortable life I would be better off not saying this prayer: in my heart, out loud, at all.
I know it isn’t a traditional prayer of protection.
Every time I pray this, it feels like I’m daring God. (Tweet this)
It feels more like an invitation for God to come and shake my life up, then like a plea for God to show me his favour and protection.
I pray it anyway.
I pray it because I don’t think God is reckless with my life. I pray it because I believe God is trustworthy.
I pray it because I don’t want to miss out on any of the blessings that God has for me, even when those blessings come through tears.
I whispered this prayer beneath a canopy of trees on my wedding day, “Lord, take me to the place of your greatest blessing.”
Eight months later I prayed it out between sobs when my husband received his cancer diagnosis, “Lord! Take me…to the place of….Your. Greatest. Blessing.”
Sometimes, like that day, as I’ve prayed it, I’ve felt the weight of this prayer.
The significance of telling God that even though I’m terrified of what I am about to go through, I trust that through it, and out of it, I will find the place of God’s greatest blessing for my life.
I think Abraham must have felt a little bit like this when Genesis 12:1-2, says, One day, the Eternal One called out to Abram (God hadn’t named him Abraham yet but it’s the same guy), and said, “Abram, get up and go! Leave your country. Leave your relatives and your father’s home, and travel to the land I will show you.”
As I read this, I am reminded how sometimes the path to God’s greatest blessing is the one I would never choose to travel.
Often finding God’s blessing calls for upheaval, for goodbyes and hellos, and for trusting God when the future is unclear. (Tweet this)
Sometimes when I pray “Lord, take me to the place of your greatest blessing,” I fail to acknowledge that this isn’t a prayer for safety. This is a prayer for blessing, and God's favour and protection does not always mean a sheltered, pleasant life.
If I look at Abraham’s life, I can see he was greatly blessed by God, but a good life didn’t fall in his lap.
Abraham went through a lot of tough things and even at the end of his life he only glimpsed the full glory of the promise God had made to him.
It’s almost been a month since my husband left hospital after his stem cell transplant but I’m starting to think of the future, beginning to think again what life might look like and I’m finding this prayer on my lips again,
Lord, take me to the place of your greatest blessing. (Tweet this)
What ever it means this time, wherever it means you’re taking me Lord, I’m ready.
Ponder: How do you define blessings in your life?
Pray: Lord, take me to the place of your greatest blessing. What ever it means this time, wherever it means you’re taking me Lord, I’m ready. Amen.
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