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KEY TEXT: Genesis 12:1-3 (KJV) – “¹ Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: ² And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: ³ And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

God called Abraham to leave his physical environment, family, friends, tribespeople, and all comfort that came with his home. God separated Abraham from all he was familiar with to bless him and make his name great. God isolated Abraham from his people so that Abraham could be a blessing to his people. He didn’t separate Abraham from his people for Abraham to discriminate or to feel he was more special than them.

God chose Abraham out of grace. At that time, Abraham had done nothing so special to be chosen by God. God does the same thing to all human beings. Ecclesiastes 9:11 says, “Time and chance happen to them all.” God gives everyone different chances according to their abilities, but the majority refuse to heed God’s call. Many say no to God’s call because they don’t know the will of God. Some say no because they are not able to discern God’s voice. The secret to discerning God’s voice is studying, meditating, and acting on God’s Word. If you can discern God’s voice, you will realize there are many more golden opportunities than you had imagined.

Abraham, in humble obedience, took the golden opportunity presented to him by God and obeyed God. By faith, he obeyed, not knowing where God was leading him but trusting that God was leading him in the right direction. In his humanity, he might have felt sorrowful for leaving an environment that he was familiar with for 75 years and people he had lived with for more than seven decades. However, pleasing God was more important to him than pleasing himself.

1 Corinthians 13:5 says that love does not seek its own. True love seeks to please God first, not to please oneself. True love seeks to benefit other people first, not to benefit oneself. If all people sought to benefit others first and not themselves, life on earth would feel like heaven. There will be no theft, corruption, enmity, heartbreak, or murders. Most sins come as a result of wanting to exalt oneself. “No one must seek exaltation. The more humbly we move and work, the more will we be exalted with God.” – Christian Leadership, Page 12, Ellen G. White.

It should not be your duty to exalt yourself. It should be God’s duty to exalt you. When you make it your duty to exalt yourself, you sin because you have acted in pride. Therefore, if you notice that someone is not respecting you at work, in church, in your family, or anywhere else, and you have acted righteously, don’t do anything to make them respect you. Don’t come up with strategies to appear elevated before their eyes. Leave it in God’s hands and continue serving God faithfully.

“It was no light test that was thus brought upon Abraham, no small sacrifice that was required of him. There were strong ties to bind him to his country, his kindred, and his home. But he did not hesitate to obey the call. He had no question to ask concerning the land of promise—whether the soil was fertile and the climate healthful; whether the country afforded agreeable surroundings and would afford opportunities for amassing wealth. God has spoken, and His servant must obey; the happiest place on earth for him was the place where God would have him to be.” – Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 126.3, Ellen G. White.

Hebrews 11:6 (KJV) – “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

Abraham’s sacrifice of leaving his country to go to an unknown land pleased God. If Abraham had disobeyed God and refused to leave his country, he would not have accessed the blessings that God had in store for him. God has lots of blessings in store for everyone. Our work is to access them. Unfortunately, many die without accessing those blessings because of disobedience. The formula for God’s blessings is faith and obedience first, then blessings later. For you to experience the blessings of the Sabbath, you have to keep the Sabbath first. You don’t experience the blessings before you keep the Sabbath. To experience the blessings of returning a tithe, you have to return a tithe first.

God had to separate Abraham from his people to make him unlearn what he had learned. Abraham was from a family practicing idolatry, and it might have been difficult for Abraham to remain faithful to God while in that environment, especially since Abraham was not that spiritually mature. Many people haven’t been able to obey God fully because of the people they surround themselves with and the environment they are in.

I was talking to a friend who told me he could not keep the Sabbath fully because he is the only Sabbath keeper in the house he lives in. He narrated to me and told me they usually rotate chores in that house, for example, cooking. If one person cooks today, the other is expected to cook the next day. Therefore, it happens that sometimes he is the one supposed to cook on Saturday, and so he ends up breaking the Sabbath because of the influence of the environment that he is in. The pressure that will be kept on you if you are in an environment whereby you are the only one believing in God is no joke. The burden on your shoulders will worsen if your family puts you under pressure. God knew this and had to separate Abraham first from his family, friends, and fellow citizens so that He could take time to make Abraham the man He wanted him to be.

God wanted to change Abraham’s thoughts, attitude, words, and actions fully. He did not do this because He loved Abraham and hated the other people. He did this because he loved everybody. Therefore, he did this in the best interest of everyone. God understood that the blessings that Abraham’s family would enjoy as a result of obedience would be much greater than the little pain they would face of Abraham not being close to them for a short while.

Abraham’s people didn’t know where Abraham had gone because Abraham himself didn’t even know where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). When you have a vision and follow God’s purpose for your life, you never know where it will lead you. The people around you also don’t know where that vision will lead, so sometimes they may misunderstand and underrate you. Keep on trusting in God. Don’t look left or right because God is the only one who knows where He is taking you.

God wanted to equip Abraham with an education that he could not get anywhere else if not from Him. Therefore, He wanted to give Abraham a conducive learning environment to uplift his mind to be as high as the heavens are from the earth. This education was meant to bless the world. Thousands of years and generations have passed, but Abraham’s story still blesses us.

Another person that God separated from his people is Joseph. Unlike Abraham, who God called directly, Joseph was not called directly. God uses different ways to communicate with different people. There are some He will communicate to them through family members, some through friends, some through enemies, some through strangers, and some by his own voice. To know if God is the one who is speaking to you, you have to know what the Bible says. That is one benefit of Bible study.

Studying the Bible benefits you as an individual. It does not benefit God. God used Joseph’s brothers to separate Joseph from his home by selling him to slavery. An act that was done out of hatred and enmity was allowed by God so that God could work his special blessings through it. This made Joseph a blessing to himself since he benefited as an individual. It made Joseph a blessing to the people and the land of Egypt. He became a blessing to his family members when his brothers came to ask him for food and moved his entire household to Egypt. He became a blessing to the world because he used to assist other nations with food. After all, other nations would come to buy food from Egypt. Just like Abraham, Joseph’s separation from his family and his nation brought great blessings to the world.

“Joseph, through his bondage in Egypt, became a savior to his father’s family.” – Patriarchs and Prophets 239.3, Ellen G. White.

“An upright character is of greater worth than the gold of Ophir. Without it none can rise to an honorable eminence. But character is not inherited. It cannot be bought. Moral excellence and fine mental qualities are not the result of accident. The most precious gifts are of no value unless they are improved. The formation of a noble character is the work of a lifetime and must be the result of diligent and persevering effort. God gives opportunities; success depends upon the use made of them.” – Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 223.1, Ellen G. White.

God built Joseph through the tough and rough experiences in Egypt. When God separates you, the experience and the environment might not always be pleasant, but they will make you better than you were. Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding will be increased in you that you never had, asked for, or imagined. God develops you spiritually first before He gives you anything else. He wants to build in you a character that will be able to handle the enormous blessings He has in store for you.

“How was Joseph enabled to make such a record of firmness of character, uprightness, and wisdom?—In his early years he had consulted duty rather than inclination; and the integrity, the simple trust, the noble nature, of the youth bore fruit in the deeds of the man. A pure and simple life had favored the vigorous development of both physical and intellectual powers. Communion with God through His works and the contemplation of the grand truths entrusted to the inheritors of faith had elevated and ennobled his spiritual nature, broadening and strengthening the mind as no other study could do. Faithful attention to duty in every station, from the lowliest to the most exalted, had been training every power for its highest service. He who lives in accordance with the Creator’s will is securing to himself the truest and noblest development of character. “The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” Job 28:28.” – Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 222.2, Ellen G. White.

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 (KJV) – “² And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no. ³ And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.”

God took the Israelites through the wilderness experience for forty years. He would have translated them directly to the Promised Land, like how He translated Enoch directly to heaven, but He did not do that (Hebrews 11:5). He would have given them a shorter route, but He didn’t. God had to separate the Israelites from the whole world first. They dwelled in the wilderness, where they could not interact and trade with people from other nations. They were not meant to stay in the wilderness and be in solitude forever. They were to stay there for a short while, unlearn lessons they had learned in Egypt, and learn new things from God. The principle lesson they were meant to learn is “man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8:3).”

Commenting on the wilderness, Ellen G. White writes, “During these years the people were constantly reminded that they were under the divine rebuke. In the rebellion at Kadesh they had rejected God, and God had for the time rejected them. Since they had proved unfaithful to His covenant, they were not to receive the sign of the covenant, the rite of circumcision. Their desire to return to the land of slavery had shown them to be unworthy of freedom, and the ordinance of the Passover, instituted to commemorate the deliverance from bondage, was not to be observed.” – Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 406.2.

“The wilderness wandering was not only ordained as a judgment upon the rebels and murmurers, but it was to serve as a discipline for the rising generation, preparatory to their entrance into the Promised Land. Moses declared to them, “As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee,” “to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no. And He … suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.” Deuteronomy 8:5, 2, 3.” – Patriarchs and Prophets, Page 407.1, Ellen G. White.

Ruth 1:16-17 (KJV) – “¹⁶ And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: ¹⁷ Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”

For Naomi’s love and best interests at heart, Ruth did God’s will by being willing to be separated from the land of Moab, her original place to go wherever Naomi was willing to go. Her husband had died, and Naomi had given her permission to leave so that she could find another husband. Despite Naomi giving her permission, Ruth stuck with her. She did not care much about her interests as much as she cared for Naomi. She was willing to suffer loneliness for the happiness of her mother-in-law Naomi. She did not want Naomi to be lonely. With her mother-in-law, Ruth moved out of Moab and went into the land of her mother-in-law. This was tremendous faith and love.

God is not a robber. He will pay you for whatever righteous act you do, especially the ones you have done, without expecting anything. After Ruth left the land of Moab with Naomi, she found favor in the eyes of a wealthy man called Boaz. She did not know why Boaz favored her until Boaz told her this.

Ruth 2:11-12 (NKJV) – “¹¹ It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. ¹² The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

Boaz was impressed by how Ruth left her father, mother, and the land of her birth to come to live with people she never knew. The righteous decision that Ruth made was a Godly decision. It pleased Naomi, it pleased Boaz, and it also pleased God. Despite her not being an Israelite and not being acquainted with the true living God ever since she was born, she did something many Israelites who knew who God was would not have done.

The Spirit of God might have led Ruth to make such a decision, and that decision made God repay her more than she had expected. She did not expect to find a husband, but she found a good husband, Boaz. She did not expect kings to come from her generation, but her generation was a lineage of great kings such as David and Solomon. She was the great-grandmother to King David. She did not expect Jesus, who is God to come from her lineage. However, Jesus came (when coming to this world to die for our sins) from Ruth’s lineage. The separation from her original land blessed her as an individual, blessed the people around her, and blessed the entire world.

Mark 10:29-30 (KJV) – “²⁹ And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the gospel’s, ³⁰ But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.”

Does all separation result in divine blessings or greatness?

Luke 15:11-13 (KJV) – “¹¹And He said, A certain man had two sons:¹²And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. ¹³ And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.”

In the parable of the prodigal son, the young son separates himself from his family, resulting in a curse. His separation resulted in a curse because it was out of selfishness and pride. When God separates you, He does that to bless you, but when the Devil separates you, he destroys you. If the prodigal son did not come to his senses and returned to his father’s house, he would have ended up in destruction.

God sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn the people, but Jonah attempted to isolate himself from God and the people of Nineveh by running away in a boat. Doing that wasted a lot of time, for he was in the fish’s belly for three days. He encountered problems that he would have avoided if he had gone directly to Nineveh.

Sometimes we want to separate ourselves from others because we think we are better than them. That separation will result in a curse and not a blessing. That is because it is not a separation inspired by God or his principles. It is a separation that is inspired by our own needs. We sometimes want to separate from our friends or our spouses because we don’t want to humble ourselves and be willing to reason out with the other person. That separation will result in a curse and not a blessing. Opportunities that were meant for that union will all be lost. Separation is good only when God instructs and inspires it because God cannot inspire something that will harm someone. God will always inspire something that will benefit everyone who wants to be benefitted.

“Many are still tested as was Abraham. They do not hear the voice of God speaking directly from the heavens, but He calls them by the teachings of His Word and the events of this providence. They may be required to abandon a career that promises wealth and honor, to leave congenial and profitable associations, and separate from kindred, to enter upon what appears to be only a path of self-denial, hardship, and sacrifice. God has a work for them to do; but a life of ease and the influence of friends and kindred would hinder the development of the very traits essential for its accomplishment. He calls them away from human influences and aid, and leads them to feel the need of His help, and to depend upon Him alone, that He may reveal Himself to them.” – Christian Service, Page 181.3, Ellen G. White.

GOD BLESS YOU!

Prayer

Dear God. I thank You for Your Word. Help me to obey You in everything and to be quick to follow Your lead. Give me strength when I feel Isolated and be with me in that moment of isolation. Lord, once again, I thank You and I praise Your name. In Jesus name, Amen.

Activity

Personal Reflection:
Quietly read Genesis 12:1-3 again. Then ask yourself:

“Is there something or someone God might be asking me to let go of—or step away from—for my spiritual growth or greater purpose?”

Reflect on:

• Environments that hinder your spiritual growth.
• Relationships that pull you away from your calling.
• Habits or routines that keep you from obeying God fully.

Write it Down:
On a piece of paper, write your answer to this prompt:

“If God told me to leave ______ today, I would struggle, but I would choose to obey Him because I believe He wants to bless me and use me as a blessing.”

Keep the paper private, or place it in your Bible or journal as a reminder of your commitment.

Pair & Pray:
Pair up with someone (if in a group) and pray together:

• For strength to follow God’s call even when it requires separation.
• For discernment to know when a separation is God’s will and not selfish ambition.
• For the courage to trust God like Abraham did.

If alone, take the time to pray personally and ask God to reveal any area of your life where He’s calling you to “step out.”

Author: Mark Alex   

Email: gettruthgetlife@gmail.com 

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