In Genesis 12:1 God chooses Abraham; but unlike the story of Noah, who was righteous in his generation and walked with God (Gen. 6:9), no reason for Abraham’s choosiness is given. We are not told that he walked with God, or that he was righteous in his generation. God simply choose him.

In the record of Abrahams life, we certainly see that he walked with God (Gen. 17:1), and that he was righteous before God (Gen. 15:6); but there is no record of his merit to deserve God choosing him.

The Torah tells us that Noah found grace in the eyes of God (Gen. 6:8), a grace that resulted in him faithfully walking with God, resulting in him being chosen to build the Ark (Gen. 6:9). But not so with Abraham.

Abraham, in Genesis 12:1-3, is commanded to go, he is promised blessing, and he is promised family. He was chosen, and he responded.

Abraham would also build an Ark; not of wood and pitch, but of faith and family. Abraham was chosen without explanation in order that future generations would realize that they did not have to reach the stature of an Abraham in order to be accepted by God. No, our acceptance is based entire on the choice of His heart.

Messiah Yeshua/Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (Jn. 15:16).

As with Abraham, Yeshua chose us. Notice as well his directive, “go … and bear fruit.” This is a key element of the Abrahamic calling, “go out.” As Paul wrote, along with my amplification, “And if you are Christ’s (because He chose you), then you are Abraham’s seed (part of Abraham’s multitude blessing), and heirs according to the promise (given to Abraham’s descendants)” (Gal. 3:29).

God chose Abraham because he wanted him, no explanation needed. Abraham did not need to reach a level of perfection in his own right to be accepted. God chose him, that’s it.

This is called grace. Abraham did not deserve to be chosen. Abraham did not merit it, and he could not argue with God based on the perfection of his character. Abraham was the choice of God’s heart, and in Messiah, you are as well.

As Paul articulates, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10).

There is no reason for God in Christ to chose you, and that places you in good company. It is His grace, His love, and His desire to bless you as part of His eternal Ark, Messiah Jesus, that makes you deserving. If you feel you do not deserve it, good, you do not; but your feeling does not change His mind. Hallelujah!

God chose Abraham to be the father of a multitude of faithful family, a promise given to a childless man. Look in the mirror, God had you in mind when He promised this to Abraham.

You are part of the seed of Abraham that is bring forth lasting fruit in Yeshua.

Be well. Shalom.

For full transparency I am writing this while on a train. I face a day of connections, schedules I do not control, and the potential that things will not line up for transferring this person, me, to and from my destination. Here I am.

For the record, I’ve never hitchhiked. It never appealed to me. I have, however, traveled to many remote locations, remote to me, around the world. In order to do so I had to go out. Leave my home, my safety and security to do so. I could not go out unless I left. Sounds simple enough, but there’s more.

Upon leaving the above noted security, and therefore familiarity, I need to be comfortable where I am. “Where” might not be the “there” I had in mind, but that is the risk of going out.

In this weeks Torah portion of לֶךְ-לְךָ/Lech Lecha, the Lord tells Abraham in Genesis 12:1 to “go out”; but it is more than that: “Go out to yourself.” Yet, He also says:

אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ

Go, “to a land that I will show you.”

Abraham was told to go out, even “go out to yourself,” but the destination was not in his control. Control belonged to God; but the journey was Abraham.

Common sense would tell us that it would be unwise to leave arrival at an important meeting to chance. We wouldn’t just say, “Oh well. I’ll get there when I get there.”

Here is the lesson: While we live in the present, it is not for the present that we live.

By calling Abraham to go out to himself, the Lord was telling him to be alive while on the journey to the promise, as the author of Hebrews writes, “For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10).

What does this tell us? Abraham connected, by faith, the journey “to yourself” with eternity. The beauty of the story of Abraham is that he wrestled on the journey. He had moments of great faith, and moments where he took matters into his own hands. We can certainly learn from his triumphs; but also his mistakes.

Going out, no matter how long the journey takes faith; yet it also causes us to learn to be content where we are, especially when things are not going as planned; not because we are unfazed by the circumstance; rather, we are connecting the circumstance with eternity.

Paul wrote, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” (Phil. 4:11-12).

How can we do this? Yeshua, Jesus is the destination in whom we are now, but not yet (Eph. 2:6). As the world is filled with His glory and presence, where we are is in Him, even while we are faithing to Him.

No matter where you are on the journey, God is making the moment, and He remakes our past moments, even the mistakes.

Abraham trusted Him, and he rejoiced to see the day of his rest in Yeshua (Jn. 8:56).

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

When we know that God, in Christ, loves us, we know, ultimately, nothing on the journey is left to chance.

Be well. Shalom.

Noach/נֹחַ/Noah in Hebrew means “comfort.” His father Lamech beheld his son and said, “This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, which cometh from the ground which the Lord hath cursed” (Gen. 5:29).

How?

Noah found grace in the eyes of God (Gen. 6:8). This grace wasn’t deserved, otherwise it wouldn’t be grace. Noah believed God, in a generation bereft of faith; God showed grace to Noah, and as the Torah says, “Noah was in his generations a man righteous and whole-hearted; Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9).

Righteousness, according to the Torah, is the result of faith (Gen. 15:6). How did Noah show that wholehearted, righteous faith? He responded by building the Ark.

How did Noah know how to build it? Did he have the skills necessary to take on such a project? Well, God called him, and he did it.

Noah brought forth the internal witness of his faith, by the external building of the Ark, work prepared beforehand for him to do (Eph. 2:8-10).

Faith did not remain alone. It was coupled with action, and that action became a comfort to those who listened to his work; yet it also became a judgment.

Noah lived his name by comforting those around him by an action of faith. He trusted the Lord, and that trust brought humanity to a new beginning.

The message of his labor was simple: come into the Ark. Another way, come into the תֵּבָה/box/word. We find in this a picture of entering Messiah, the Word made flesh, for safety for the judgment, deliverance, comfort: because He, Yeshua/Jesus, gives us rest.

Noah continues to comfort us by his faithfulness to fulfill what the Father called him to, and equipped him for. May we do the same, to the glory of the Messiah. When we think, or believe we can’t, the calling of God says yes (II Cor. 1:20).

Shabbat shalom.