Dying Before the Journey Has Ended


Have you ever begun something that you never managed to finish? I doubt that there are many of us who can’t answer a resounding “yes” to that question. We sometimes conduct postmortems on why we didn’t finish a project. Oftentimes we’d rather not even discuss it!
In Genesis 11 one of these unfinished projects comes to light. “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.” (11:31, NIV)
We often are reminded of Abraham’s call to Canaan and assume that he left from Ur to follow the command of God. Technically he did, but it was his father, Terah, who started the journey. From the way the text reads it was Terah who, for some unmentioned reason, packed up his family and headed to Canaan.
Except, he didn’t finish the journey. We aren’t told why Terah stopped at Haran or why he didn’t get started again. He died without getting where he had originally intended to go.
Not every dream is worth chasing. Sometimes we are foolish or short-sighted when we choose projects to pursue, or things into which we invest our lives and resources. We choose badly or don’t count the cost.
Some dreams are worth pursuing, but we lose heart before we realize them or we get distracted and never get back on track. We don’t know what prevented Terah from finishing what he started but we probably know why we haven’t finished what we’ve started.
As we begin a new year, the traditional time for goal-setting and reevaluation, it’s probably a good time to look at what we haven’t finished (or started yet) and determine whether or not that dream is worth pursuing; if it is a “God-thing” that He wants for us. Then we have to discover what is keeping us from finishing what we have started (or should start) and ask Him to help us remove the obstacles to the fulfillment of His perfect plan for us.
There’s nothing worse than dying before we’ve finished the perfect journey.

Comments

  1. Cindy Barclay11 January 2012 at 10:42

    Thanks Lynda. You have encouraged me so much. I was contemplating "quitting" something that I wonder it is really impacting anyone but your words reminded me to think back to when God first placed it on my heart and realize He's saying "keep on keepin' on." hugs

    ReplyDelete
  2. Joanne Sher11 January 2012 at 12:14

    Great reminder, especially, to FINISH what we started, rather than just making a new goal.

    ReplyDelete

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