A pain in the "but"......

“Buts” are a pain! They’re frustrating! Aggravating! Exasperating! Infuriating! Wearying! Irksome! Disappointing! Maddening! A waste! Awfully sad! And most of the time… really stupid!

ARE THEY WORTH IT?  How much time in this life do you have to waste?

On this journey of mine that I’m traveling, I find myself stuck in a “but” more times than I’d like to. Thus in a "Genesis 11:31" way too much. It’s a discouraging verse, because, as I said, I’ve too often worn the shoes, been guilty of the same, done a similar thing. I’m good at a "but." I'm good at Genesis 11:31. I’d rather I wasn’t. I hate that I am. I've decided to change. I'm determined to get off of my "but."

Previous to Abram’s Genesis 11:31 (we see in Acts 7) that God had called Abram out of the place he was living and told to go to a place He would show him. He had been told to leave his country, leave his people, leave his father’s household, and to go to the land that God wanted him to. So. Abram did. He left. He got up. He began. He went. But!

Though Abram left, here is what he didn't do. It shows up in the dreaded verse that's mentioned above which says of his departure, “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.”

Abram left, taking with him more than he was supposed to…… “Leave your people,” he was told…. Yet, he took some of his people with him.

They set out as they should, as he was called…….They set out from… to go to….... BUT!

“They set out from Ur… to go to Canaan. But when  they came to Haran, they settled  there.”

Why do we do that? What makes us fail to continue?

Why set out….

“Set out” – It’s yalak in the Hebrew. It means

·        to go out,

·        to come out of,

·        to exit out of,

·        to depart from,

·        to go forward,

·        to proceed to or toward something.

Why exited out of, departed from, leave a place just as we are told, heading toward the place that God is calling us to……. to only "BUT"?

But?

But?

BUT???

Don’t you sometimes hate the buts in your life?

·        “I meant to, but…”

·        I was going to, but…”

·        “It's a passion inside me, but…”

·        “I really want to, but…”

·        “I feel God has called me to, but…!”

·        “I know you said, but…”

Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary defines “but” as

·         except for the fact

·         on the contrary

·         on the other hand

Answers.com adds to the definition:

·         contrary to expectation

·         used to indicate an exception

·         except that

Again, why set out to go… to only "BUT" when we come to     ?      (a place) and settle there? Why not skip the "but" and continue on until we arrive at the place that God is calling and sending us to?

“They settled” – yashab –

·         they remained,

·         they sat,

·         they stayed,

·         they inhabited,

·         they stilled themselves,

·         they stopped and dwelt in a land they weren’t called to settle in.

“They set out from… to go to… But when they came to… they settled there.”

Woe, how often are we prompted, propelled, compelled, convicted to leave a place, a thing, a habit, a forbidden, a guilt, a regret, a shame, a mood, a fury, a bitterness, a comfort, a normal, a staleness, a dryness, a dwelling……. and we’re actually convicted enough to actually move, to leave, to go, to get out of it, to exit the place we’ve been told to get out of……..… and yet, we stop and settle in a place short of our promise land? Why still ourselves and stay just shy of where God is sending? of where He's calling? of where He's planned and purposed? of where He wants us to go?

What stills us and stops us from journeying on? from continuing and persisting 'til we get there?

It can be a whole manner of things. Fear…. Comfort….. Family….. Too hard…. Too much trouble….. Too unknown……. Too tired....... Discouragement..... Lack of money...... Lack of support...... Lack of time..... Lack of faith.....

Have you been called out of a place (told to: “Get thee out of”) in order to go “to” somewhere, and you did, you left…………"BUT"? Let's not get stuck in a "but" and miss our promised land adventure!