STOPPING SHORT

Today's reading: Genesis 8-11

"Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai, and his grandson Lot (his son Haran's child) and left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But they stopped instead at the village of Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still at Haran." Genesis 11:31-32 NLT

You know, as many times as I have read through the Bible--and read this particular portion of chapters, I've never once noticed that Abram's father, Terah, was the first to desire the Promised Land.

Maybe for himself--he just wanted to see what it was all about.

Maybe for his son--he wanted more for his child than he ever had himself.

Maybe in obedience to God--merely seven generations past his grandfather Noah.

So why did he stop short of completing his journey? Why did he never finish the trip? Why did he settle for Haran when a land flowing with milk and honey awaited him?

Might it be that Canaan wasn't written into his life story? That all that needed done in the Promised Land wasn't for him to do? Could it be that God determined Terah to not be the 'father of many nations', but the father of the father of many nations?

This particular piece of Scripture is giving me new lenses to see others through. What I think I know...What I think should be...What I think will happen...How I believe someone has gotten to where they are today...How they have become who they have become...