Photo by Eduard Militaru
One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai ( his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot ( his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there.
Genesis 11:31 NLT
Terah is Abraham’s father. From this text, we are told that he was the first one to decide to move to Canaan. In Abraham’s story, God specifically calls him out to leave his household and go to Canaan the land of promise. But before God calls Abraham, it seems He had called Terah to move to Canaan. But something stands out. Terah doesn’t get to Canaan; he reaches Harran and permanently settles there.
Settling here doesn’t just mean establishing a residence in a place; it also can mean, to settle for which is to accept or agree to something, or to decide to have something, although it is not exactly what you want or it is not the best. [Cambridge Dictionary]
Even though Terah’s original destination was Canaan. He reached Harran and decided even though it wasn’t Canaan, it was good enough.
Harran was Terah’s good enough. What is yours?
How many things have we settled for less than God’s best for our lives? What area of your life have you decided that it might never change and you might as well settle for good enough?
Today, God is calling us out of our good enough places into the best He has for us. He wants us to have full abundant lives not good enough lives. He has called us to the best in Him, not a barely-there kind of life.
Here are some ways in which we settle.
We settle in comfort
It’s been said that comfort zones are where dreams go to die and it’s true. Comfort zones are safe and they don’t require us to risk anything. So many dreams have died because people decided to settle in their comfort. If we are going to have everything that God has for us then we have to break up with the desire to be comfortable.
Leaving a well-paying job to start a business or starting a new career will not be comfortable. Walking away from a mediocre relationship and choosing to wait for God’s best isn’t comfortable. Chasing your God-given dream will not be comfortable. Taking risks and taking new roads in life will not be comfortable.
But, because we want more than what we have right now, we are willing to embrace uncomfortable situations. We can choose to settle in the things that make us feel comfortable and safe. Or, we can break up with comfort and go after everything that God has made available for us.
We settle in unbelief
We can settle in unbelief. We can decide that going with God is too much risk and too much work, we would rather not have what God has said. The Israelites settled in unbelief. God had promised to give them the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. Yet, when they saw the giants that dwelt in the Promised Land they decided to settle in unbelief. We are told so we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Hebrews 3:19
What have we not been able to access in God because of our unbelief? Unbelief is a choice and so is faith. We get to decide whether we will believe God’s word and fight for our promises in Him, or settle in unbelief. Unbelief disqualified the Israelites from receiving the Promised Land. God requires our participation by faith to give us the things He has for us. Unbelief will disqualify us from receiving His promises.
What has your unbelief robbed you of? A great relationship? A great career? Doors of opportunity? Healing and wholeness? You have to decide that you will no longer settle in unbelief, but will go with God by faith to the promised land.
We settle in our limitations
God doesn’t call us to what we can do, He calls us to things that are greater than us so we can depend on Him. We settle in our limitations when we choose to do things in our own strength instead of depending on God. Failure isn’t a bad thing if it reveals our limitations and leads us to the one who is more than able. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. Ephesians 3:20 Notice it says … His power that is at work, not ours. We are limited in our ability but He is not. We are limited in our imagination but He isn’t. We are limited in power but He isn’t. And only when we trust Him who is able to surpass all our limitations and do immeasurably above will we see great things in our lives.
We settle in ‘the way it has always been done‘.
Someone said insanity is doing the same things over and over expecting different results. We are happy to settle in the way things have always been done. We say it has always been done this way and stubbornly refuse to open ourselves to new ideas.
Sometimes we settle in things that don’t work because no one has done it differently. How many of us are in relationships that look like every other relationship around us? How many are in a job or a career they don’t like because that’s what everyone they know has done? How many things are we doing because it’s what we saw growing up?
We have settled in what has always been done because we are afraid of doing things differently. We are afraid of standing out rather than fitting in. we are afraid people will frown on us if we decide to change the status quo. So we do things just as they have always been done.
The people who have dared to think differently are the ones who have been able to change things. The people who have changed the world are the ones who have said, “There is got to be a different way of doing this ”. Romans 12:2 reminds us Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. We cannot access God’s perfect will for our lives with this world’s ideas, there has to be a change in the way we think.
Here is to refusing to settle for what is comfortable; in our unbelief; in what’s limiting us, and deciding to go after everything God has promised to us!
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