Stopping Short of the Destination

It appears to be one of those throw-away verses of scripture — a seemingly insignificant detail recorded in the midst of far more important matters. “Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there” (Genesis 11:31).

Terah was the father of Abram — whom we know as Abraham, the one with whom God first made a covenant, and the one to whom the Jewish people trace their origins. Our focus is immediately drawn to Abram because of his importance as our spiritual ancestor. Any reference to Terah is easily passed over. Terah lives in the shadow of his son Abram.  

But what the Hebrew Scriptures said about Terah catches my attention. Terah left his homeland of Chaldea (Babylon) to go to the land of Canaan — the land God promised to Abram, the land we refer to as The Promised Land. But on the way to Canaan, Terah stopped in Haran and settled there. Terah seemingly stopped short of his destination, that is, Canaan.

As I read this historical note, questions immediately jump to my mind. Why did he settle in Haran? Did something happen that caused him to settle for Haran instead of Canaan? Did he set out for Canaan because the LORD had called him the way the LORD later called his son Abram (Genesis 12:1-3)? Was Terah the one with whom the LORD originally chose to enter into covenant?

The text does not answer my questions. It only states the historical fact: Terah stopped short of Canaan, his original destination. The lack of answers to my questions leaves me to reflect on how we might do what Terah did: stop short on the spiritual journey.

Abram’s call and journey to Canaan — like the wanderings of the Hebrew people in the wilderness after their deliverance from captivity in Egypt — are precursors to and metaphors of our spiritual journey. We, like Abram and like the Israelites in Egypt, have heard and responded to a call to live in a covenant relationship with the LORD. That call puts us on a spiritual journey toward a promised destination. For Abram and the Israelites, the destination was the land of Canaan.

In popular theology, Canaan or the Promised Land is understood as a metaphor for heaven. In this kind of thinking, our destination is going to heaven when we die and, thereby, escaping hell. As common as this line of thinking is, it is not the biblical understanding.

The New Testament writers identified spiritual maturity — being conformed to the likeness of Christ — as the destination of our spiritual journey.  

The Spirit’s work is to transform us into the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18)).  Thus, the Spirit actively works to grow us up spiritually. The Spirit initiates our growth by teaching us the things of God that Jesus taught (John 14:26). The Spirit teaches us to think with the mind of Christ and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 2:7-16). That new way of thinking leads to the transformation of our hearts and minds by the Spirit (Romans 12:2). The result is a Spirit-empowered change in how we live. The Spirit not only orchestrates our growth, the Spirit is also God’s guarantee to us — God’s pledge or earnest money — that we will reach our destination of Christ-like spiritual maturity (Ephesians 1:13-14). Before the Spirit’s work is done, we will be like Christ (Ephesians 4:13).  

Which brings me back to Nahor who stopped short of his destination: is it possible for us to stop short of the destination of Christ-like spiritual maturity to which God has called us? Is it possible for us to settle down somewhere short of what God wants for us?

The Hebrew Scriptures tell the story of the Israelites who stopped short of the destination to which the LORD had called them (Numbers 13-14; Psalm 95:7-11). Eighteen months out of Egypt, the LORD sought to lead the people into the Land of Promise, but they were afraid of the inhabitants. They failed to trust the LORD to give them the land, rebelling against the LORD’s command and refusing to try to take the land. As a result, they wandered in the wilderness for another 38 ½ years until all of that generation had died. Their children and grandchildren were the ones who entered Canaan under Joshua’s leadership.

The writer of the book of Hebrews used their experience as a warning about stopping short of the destination of spiritual maturity (Hebrews 3:7-19). He described his readers as being in a state of prolonged spiritual immaturity (Hebrews 5:11-14) and called them to go on to maturity (Hebrews 6:1). He called them to build their lives around the spiritual truths they had been taught (Hebrews 10:19-25). He called them to be bold in taking their struggle to God, knowing that Jesus was a Great High Priest who could sympathize with them (Hebrews 4:15-16) because of the struggle and suffering he himself had endured (Hebrews 5:7-8).

The book of Hebrews clearly speaks of the possibility of stopping short of the goal to which the LORD has called us. And the writer describes for us what it looks like to stop short.

We stop short of the destination when we stop growing spiritually … when we resist the new way of thinking the Spirit is teaching us … when we cling to old ways of thinking and living … when we treat spiritual truth casually so that it no longer shapes our lives (Hebrews 2:1) … when we no longer practice the spiritual disciplines that nurture growth (Hebrews 10:24-25) … when we get comfortable with what we know, believing we are “right” … when we, like Terah, settle for less than God desires for us.

Terah set out from Chaldea for Canaan, but when he got to Haran, he stopped. He didn’t go on. He settled down. He stopped short of Canaan.

But, as for us, “let us go on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1).