Genesis 11 is all about packing up and moving. There are several reasons people make big moves. At the beginning of the chapter, people made major moves because God had confused their languages. In Genesis 11:31, it was Terah who decided to move to Haran. In Genesis 12:1, God told Abram to make what might have been the same move (Genesis 15:7). Whose idea was it to make this move, Terah’s or Abram’s (by God’s oracle)? This question has implications about what kinds of things motivate people to move. Terah may have moved as a part of the confused-language trouble. Abram might have come along because he was a part of the family; but God had a providential plan for Abram in the move.
Christians often detect evidence of God providentially enabling their moves. They describe their moves as, “God opened a door for us to make this move.”
Whether we believe God acted to locate us in a particular geographical location for his own purposes, or we believe we made the best decision we could when given our circumstances at the time, it is important that we pursue kingdom ministry (missional vocation) for the communities in which we find ourselves.
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