A Land I Will Show You
“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed … I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.’” –Genesis 12:1–3; 22:17
These words to Abram read like a very Novo-esque type calling: Within it is both promise and obedience. An example of “listen and obey.” The imperative to “go” from the comfortable and head out into the unknown. To “bless” all peoples from all nations. With the resultant promise to “multiply” an offspring that produces a number…too great to count.
However, this calling is not limited to promise and obedience. It contains within it a strategy that makes obedience possible and promise a potential. That little phrase in the beginning of Genesis 12, ”to a land that I will show you” proves to be more instructional than we might realize.
Abram receives the call to “go” while he is living in Ur of the Chaldeans, a place commonly thought to be located somewhere in what is modern-day Iraq. “The land to which I will show you” turns out to be Canaan, a relatively thin slice of land along the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea. While not large in area it was the most influential piece of property in the ancient Near East. Historians and biblical scholars have often referred to it as “The Sacred Bridge” (White).
It is referred to as a bridge because it was the corridor between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordanian Desert. In Abram’s day, maritime voyages along the Mediterranean were both costly and unpredictable. Travel through the Jordanian Desert was nearly impossible to traverse with its excessive heat and sandstorms. The most cost-effective and safe way to travel the ancient Near East was through the Sacred Bridge. As you can see from the image above the three major trade routes of the time: the Via Maris (Aqua), Kings Highway (Red) and the Spice and Perfume route (Purple) all flow through Canaan. These trade routes connected the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia. At any point in time, all the nations of the earth were traveling through Canaan. Abram’s call to “go,” “bless,” and “multiply” from all nations is made possible in the strategic location of Canaan.
As Novo missionaries we too have a similar calling as Abram. But do we give much thought to finding the most strategic location? We listen for missional places. We look for persons of peace. We follow the fruit. But are they our modern-day Canaan? Have we found the location in our city where all nations pass through? Where an actual multiplication of a number too great to count can take place?
This is also instructional for Novo as an organization. Have we in the U.S. identified Canaan? Where is that strip of land where blessing all nations can occur? Where there exists the potential of a multiplication too great to count? Have we identified Canaan in Europe? In Africa? In Asia? In every continent? May we all seek. May we all contend. May we all listen. As individuals, as teams, and as an organization for “a land that I will show you.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daniel and Christen Lawrie live in the Los Angeles area with their 4 kids: Corban (14), Moriah (13), Talyah (11) and Ethan (10). They are local business owners and team leaders for the SCVUnderground. They joined Novo in June of 2020.
