Reflections on Abram

I'm studying the book of Genesis with my mentor and these thoughts keep rolling around in my head, so I thought I'd get them out here so you all can help me process.

Genesis 13
Summary: Abram has just moved back to Bethel where he made an altar to the Lord. The place can't support both his family and Lot's family so Abe gives Lot first choice on which part of the land to live. Lot chooses the greener, fertile area and then God promises Abe all the land, even the part he just gave away.

Gen 13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

This is what has me thinking so hard. Abram moved his tents and lived. I don't know about you, but to me, tents are a pretty temporary dwelling place. And yet, scripture says he lived there. That sounds kind of permanent. So why would he choose to live (for a long time) in tents (a temporary house)?

Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

That's it! He didn't expect to stay there long. He was looking forward to his real home--the permanent-forever place God had promised him! And yet, in the meantime he lived.

This makes me think of God's instructions to Jeremiah and the Israelites when they were captives in Babylon. Jeremiah 29:4-7 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

The Israelites were told that one day they would get to go home--their real home. And yet, God says, "Build a house! Plant a garden! Live there! Get married! Have babies! Watch your babies grow up and get married and have babies of their own! Live there!"

So now I have these two examples of people living not where they want to be. They feel like where they are should only be temporary because it's not the land God promised them. But they are told to build houses, plant gardens, make a home in that strange land...

Can you guess why these thoughts are rolling around in my head? Obviously, there is the application that I have a home in heaven which I should be looking forward to, but in the meantime I need to live here on earth. I need to make friends with my neighbors in this world and buy their produce and pray for their success. Yes. Eternal perspective while living in this temporal world.

But there is something else, too. Something specific to my life and something that requires me to let go of what I desperately want to hold on to.

Here I am in Edmonds, Washington, a place where I don't want to live because I feel that Portland, Oregon is my home. In my mind, we are only living here temporarily because of course we're gonna move back to Portland...And so every time we talk about buying a house, I end up letting it slip away. I want to keep my apartment (read tent) because I don't want to commit to a life in Seattle. I want to be able to pack up and go home as soon God gives the go ahead. But what if he doesn't? What if he means for me to live here for a long time? What if I'm supposed to buy a house and plant a garden and watch my child grow up and get married and have his own babies all before I get to go home to Portland? What if I go home to heaven before that? Abram never saw God's promise fulfilled in his lifetime. He lived in a tent all that time...And so did his descendents Isaac and Jacob!

So now what? The longer we live in our tent, here in Edmonds, the more ties we make to people, our church, our community. And it will already be so hard to leave family. Whether we want to or not, our tent is becoming a permanent dwelling place. Should we just buy a house and plant a garden here in Seattle? Do I let go of my hope of moving back to Portland? Am I even making any sense?