Abraham:7 big blessing and one big Oops Day 1

You will need your Bible today.
What are the most important things in your life? Family, home, financial security, friends, maybe status, or education is really important to you. Most of us (at least if you are doing a daily Bible Study) would say that God is the #1 thing on our list, and we know He should be, but would you be willing to give up everything else on your list for Him? If God asked you to pack up and leave the town you have spent your whole life in would you? What if He told you to quite your job without the security of a new one? Could you leave your family and friends behind and start fresh in a new and completely different place if He asked?
Even in the age of Facebook, email, cell phones and digital pictures leaving what you know and are comfortable with isn't easy. Imagine leaving everything behind knowing you will probably never hear from, or see your family and friends again, hitting the road without GPS, googlemaps or even an atlas. For many of us that would be one of the scariest things imaginable.
Please Read Genesis 11:27- 12:9
The Ur that Abram was from was most likely in the southern tip of Mesopotamia, on the southern edge of the Eurphrates River, near the Persian Gulf. Ur was one of the most cosmopolitian cities in the Ancient Near East. It was a center for manufacturing, shipping and trade, had feritile land for farming, and a huge temple to the popular moon-god, Sin.* Life in Ur was safe, comfortable, and offered plenty of potential for getting rich. Abraham had been born and raised in Ur. Whether he was a city dweller, or his family farmed land outside the city limits, he was used to a certain standard of living.
In contrast Canaan was more like the wild west. Though it was well positioned on the trade routes of the Fertile Cresant, moving goods from Mesopotamia around the desert and down into Egypt, it wasn't heavily populated. There were several nomadic groups that dwelt in Canaan and some had begun to settle into towns and cities. However it was wild and rustic and compared to Ur and the cities of Mesopotamia, it was uncivilized and backward.** God told Abram to leave not just the world he knew, but all the comforts of a large urban area and spend the rest of his life living in a tent, in a strange, unsophisticated, rural country.
According to Genesis 11:31, it would seem that Terah, Abram's father, was the leader of the little family group that set out from Ur headed to Canaan, yet Acts 7 tells us that the LORD had appeared to Abram in Ur. In ancient times the eldest male was always the head of the household. Abram would most likely have gone to his father with the Words the LORD had said to him. One of Terah's sons had died prematurely leaving a grandson, Lot to be looked after, while his son Nahor had a wife and family to look after. It makes sence that when Abram came to his father with plans to travel to the east that Terah would not want him to travel alone. However it also makes since that Terah, having not heard from the LORD himself, and being the patriarch of the family would have decided to travel to the edge of Mesopotamia, but no futher. Haran was another bustling city about 700 mile from Ur, and oddly about 80 miles off the path to Canaan.*** He had allowed Abram to leave Ur, but was probably not willing go further then the world he knew and was comfortable in.
I have a very dear friend who in her mid 20s was called to the mission field. She was young, beautiful and full of life and absolutely on fire for the Lord. God didn't just call her to the mission field, He called her to some of the darkest, feared, occult filled countried in the world. Her parents wanted her to get married, have babies, and have a safe career, to do all the normal, healthy things that our culture desires. They too loved the Lord, but they were terrified for their precious daughter and were relentless in trying to discourage her from her calling. They wanted her to love God and obey Him, just not in such scary, unknown places. It was very hard for my friend to resist her parents but she chose to obey God. It wasn't easy but she'll tell you it was worth it.
Sometimes, no matter how well meaning, the people we love hinder our walk with God. Even Christian families, and friends can have a hard time supporting us when God calls us to something unknown, or countercultural. It is human nature to prefer what is safe, comfortable and known, but God wants us to step out in faith. We need to trust Him, even when it flies in the face of the people we love. Its not that we shouldn't love and honor our friends and family, only that we must love and honor God more.
God may never ask you to leave the life you have, to leave your job, or your home. He may never ask you to travel to strange and scary countries, or sell all your belongings and give the money to the poor, but He will ask you to trust Him. Someday you will have to step out in faith in one way or another. What will you chose?
Abram, left Ur and landed in Haran for a few years, but when his father died he took off again for Canaan. Abram, may have stalled out for a bit, but he took a huge leap of faith and followed the LORD. The blessings he received have changed this world forever. What kind of influence do you have?
"If you love me, you will obey my command." John 14:15

* Halley, Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan Publishing House. 1965. pg. 88-89

** Mullins, Robert. "What was the Old Testament World?" in They Spoke From God: A Survey of the Old Testament. edited by William C. Williams. Springfield, MO. Gospel Publishing House. 2003. pg. 151-171

*** Walton, John H. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Volume 1. Grand Rapids, MI. Zondervan. 2009. pg. 67-68