Where You Belong--Gen. 13

"And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai." Gen. 13:3

Abram answered the call of God, and after his father's death headed out into the great world, "not knowing whither he went." He let God lead...and ended up in the Promised Land.

Beautiful valleys, rich verdure everywhere: and God promised this to Abram and to his seed forever. Abram journeyed through this land, pitched his tent, and built an altar, on which he offered a morning and evening sacrifice.

A witness to the heathen around him, a light in darkness, a source of hope for all the people who were with him, who had cast their lot in with him, trusting in this God that they knew so little: Abram had a wonderful influence.

And then a famine which caused them to repair to Egypt. No, they didn't abandon the hope God had given them of the Promised Land. They didn't give up on the fact that God had led them there, and that He had promised it to them. But in order to remain alive--and to go through what God needed them to--to Egypt they went.

We know what happened there. Abram lied, Sarah was taken, the Pharoh's household was beset with a terrible plague, and the patriarch was sent from the land of Egypt with his wife restored, greater wealth than when he came, and the reputation of having a God who would fight for him if anyone did him harm.

Ellen White states that God took Abram to Egypt--He led him there--in order to have his faith tested. Good came out of that trial, assuredly: yet it still was a trial. A half-bitter experience. But God led...and the safest place, the happiest place, whether in affliction or in peace, was where God called.

And after that, where to?

Back to Canaan. Back to the Promised Land.

The saying goes, "Sometimes right back where you started from is right where you belong."

Abram went back. Pitched his tent. Repaired the altar. Lived in the Promised Land.

Right back where he was in the beginning.

As a human family, a race of creatures, we started out in Canaan--only it was called Eden then. We were in paradise: perfection in its purest form. The epitome of purity and holiness, true joy. 

We fell. 

And now, we see very little of that perfection that once was anywhere in this world. It still lingers in the works of nature, the word of God, and the workings of the Lord in the lives of men...but there is precious little to be seen in the cruelty and terror we find around us. 

We are in Egypt. 

But get this...

We belong in Canaan.

God doesn't want us to be in Egypt in the sense that He didn't want us to fall, to sin. But He is using that fall, that sin, to bring us closer to the throne of God and to His own heart than ever would've been possible had we remained in Canaan. 

Like Abraham, we too, will come out from thence richer than when we went in. 

You were created for the Promised Land. For Canaan. For happiness, both on earth and in heaven. You've been promised this land, this happiness, by the God of heaven.

Egypt isn't your home.

God has called you to Egypt to learn something, to do something, to help someone--even if that someone is yourself.

But amid the lesson-learning, the trial-and-error we call life, don't ever forget this one thing…

Canaan is where you belong.

Lord, help me to remember...Canaan is my home.